Penalties
by UchihaCherryBlossoms
Summary: He tried to focus on something that would calm his mind, but all that kept flashing before his closed eyelids were flashes of half-forgotten pink and gold. Further Summary Inside, 1st chapter is pretty dark but story really picks up after that!
1. Chapter 1

Summary: He tried to focus on something that would calm his mind, but all that kept flashing before his closed eyelids were flashes of half-forgotten pink and gold. The lack of nourishment was keeping him from fully forming these images, and he couldn't even remember names or faces, but all he could remember was that these flashes were what was keeping the visions of death and pain from overtaking him.

Background: Based about 10 years after Sasuke leaves Konoha on his mission of vengeance. I am assuming that the storyline continues along with what is outlined in all of Shippuden and that Sasuke achieves "all that he wanted to". I'm not sure what all to add to that, the manga hasn't gotten that far, so I will probably get into more detail later on. Sasuke has set out on his own to find out what he is to do next and makes camp about 2 days travel outside of Konoha and has been there for 6 months. He has been discovered and Tsunade sends a retrieval squad of ANBU to bring him back to Konoha without telling Naruto or Sakura what is happening.

Pairings: SasuSaku, NaruSasuSaku, maybe more later on

Rating: M

Warnings: Imprisonment, Torture, Pain, the works. This fic has a very dark beginning but should lighten up later on. Please don't read if you can't handle dark, mature stuff like that.

Notices: The usual, I don't own the characters or the world they come from, only the basis of the story, that's all me! Please Read and Review, I love the feedback. Flames are welcome too, but only if they actually have some constructive criticism.

*****

The room was dark, it had been like that for 3 days now, ever since he was un-ceremoniously thrown in here by his captors and the door was closed, locked, and sealed from the outside. The only light that penetrated the walls of his cell came from a tiny slit window along the top of the outside wall that barely let in the sunlight during the day. Twice a day a small door on the bottom of the door swung open to reveal a small bowl of un-identifiable food and a canteen of musty smelling water. He drank the water to try to keep from becoming dehydrated, but left the food in the bowl, only to be taken away and replaced by a new one later. Slowly, the wounds that he had taken during his capture stopped aching, only to be replaced by a slow itch from the dried blood that had never been cleaned off and the infections that were taking hold of his body. His arms and legs ached all the time now, he had lost so much chakra that his body would never fully recover if he stayed in this place for much longer. The lack of food was causing him to hallucinate, visions of Itachi, Orochimaru, and even all the way back to the massacre of his clan, causing him to scream until his throat was raw into the darkness, only to be ignored by the guards that were constantly present just outside the door.

Today, however, today felt different. Along with his morning "meal" came a change of clothing. He crawled over to the door just as the small opening was allowed to swing shut and he felt the quiver of chakra that signaled the seal being re-applied, and grabbed at the small pile of white, canvas fabric with a hand that he couldn't prevent from shaking anymore. Upon shaking it out, he saw that it was a pair of canvas pants and a wrap around top, not so dissimilar from the outfit he had worn ever since he started training with Orochimaru, but the fabric was course, and obviously not intended for comfort. Desperate to get out of his dirty, blood stained, and ruined clothing, he pushed himself up onto his knees and slowly peeled off his shirt, finally aware of just how lacerated his skin really was. There was a large gash along his shoulder that ran down his back to stop just above his right hip, many smaller punctures from kunai and shuriken that had rained down on him from above, and his right shoulder had been separated from it's socket when one of his captors had grabbed his arm and twisted it up behind him to get him into the prison. It took a while, but even with his shaking hands and really only using one arm, he managed to get his old clothing off and his poor abused body into what he assumed were prison clothing. After he managed to tie the drawstring on the pants, he collapsed into the far corner of the cell and tried to close his eyes and relax without the visions returning. He tried to focus on something that would calm his mind, but all that kept flashing before his closed eyelids were flashes of half-forgotten pink and gold. The lack of nourishment was keeping him from fully forming these images, and he couldn't even remember names or faces, but all he could remember was that these flashes were what was keeping the visions of death and pain from overtaking him.

He hadn't realized that he had dozed off, lulled to sleep by the pink and gold flashes, and the warm, comforting feeling that they instowed in him, until the door to his cell was thrown open to slam against the door, and the light from the hallway was so bright that he had to painfully throw an arm across his eyes. That only lasted a second, because two of the guards surged forward and grabbed an arm each and pulled him shakily to his feet. He tried to open his eyes to see if he could identify any of his captors but the sudden intrusion of light into the cell after so long left his eyes only cracked open and watering, with the few visions that managed to register were blurry and unfocused. Due to the lack of use, his legs refused to hold his own weight, so the two guards dragged him out into the corridor and down the hallway, past door after door, then down a flight of stairs into a hallway that only had one door at the end of it. By the time that they had reached it, he was in so much pain that he couldn't even see and sweat was running down his back. The door was thrown open to reveal a chair covered with thick leather straps and paper tags that he would soon find out that would completely secure off the last remaining chakra that was in his system. He was dropped into the chair and his arms and legs were tied down, and another strap pulled his back straight up against the un-yielding back of the chair. He hung his head almost to his chest, his lank, dark hair completely covering his eyes as tears of pain slowly leaked out of his eyes. The two guards, satisfied that he was unable to move, let alone fight back, retreated from the room, only to be replaced by a shorter figure who moved into the room, staying to the shadows cast by the small amount of light coming from the hallway. He slowly lifted his head and peered through his bangs at the new person, but couldn't identify them. The figure was shorter than the two guards, and slimmer, but still gave the impression of immense strength. Due to the position that the guards had bound his arms to the chair, his dislocated shoulder throbbed painfully and he could feel every half-healed cut and puncture on his skin scream in agony. He truly hoped that, if this new figure was truly here to finish him off that they would do it quickly, he didn't know how much more of this pain he could take.

The figure abandoned it's place along the wall and slowly walked towards him, keeping the light from the door at it's back. He felt the cold fingers of fear slowly work their way up his neck and a cold sweat broke over his forehead as the figure strode towards him, only to stop right in front of the chair and bend over him to look him straight in the face. As the figure's hair fell in front of their face, he caught a whiff of a flowery scent that he thought that he remembered from the same memories that supplied the pink and gold visions that he had clung to so desperately in his cell. The figure took in a breath and spoke, and all of a sudden he realized who the figure was…

"Hello Sasuke-kun…"

*****


	2. Chapter 2

*****

Flashback

*****

"Sakura, could you come in here, I have an assignment for you."

"What is is, Hokage-sama?"

"It's an S-Level interrogation and physical evaluation."

"Yes Hokake-sama, do we know what we're looking for? Information, Names, Intelligence?"

"Motive, and future intentions…"

"Hokage-sama?"

"Yes Sakura?"

"It's him, isn't it?"

"Yes…"

"…"

*****

End Flashback

*****

"Hello Sasuke-kun."

That voice, one of the voices he had been yearning to hear for years now. After he disposed of Itachi, long after killing Orochimaru, after fulfilling his need for vengence, he discovered that he was empty inside. He had nothing left to strive for, no goals, no ambitions, no dreams. He had sent away his makeshift team, not needing their services anymore, and had gone into seclusion to try and figure out what he would do with the rest of his existence. And during that time, he had discovered that what he needed was a purpose, and he had one waiting for him, searching for him, after all these years.

"… Sa… Sakura…?" he gasped out, his throat still raw and sore.

She bends over further and he can see a glimpse of the emerald green eyes that he had held such devotion to him when they were children. Now, though, they were dark, and he couldn't tell what emotions were held behind them. In fact, they frightened him…

"Yes Sasuke-kun, it's me." she sneered at him, a small grin gracing her face. She raised a hand to the side of his face and brushed some of his dark hair out of his face so she could look directly into his eyes. The Medic-nin side of her immediately noticed how hollow his cheeks looked, and the dark bruises around his eyes that made them look sunken into his face. She had seen corpses on the battlefield that looked better than he did at that moment.

"And I'm to be your interrogator today, and I hope you'll cooperate and give me what I want."

He shuddered, he had never heard such malice in her voice ever before. When she brushed his hair out of his eyes, he had forced himself to look at her as best as he could in the darkness that still cloaked the room they were in. He noticed that the years (had it really been 10 years since he left Konoha?) had added a subtle grace to her figure, but had also hardened her into a dangerous individual, with cords of tough muscle that he saw ripple over her arms and her abs as she stood back and placed her hands on her hips. She wore a pared down version of her old red dress that left her midsection bare, but he noticed that it wasn't skin that was showing white between the two pieces of clothing, but white bandages, wrapped tightly around her slim waist. Her skirt came down to just above her knees and was slit up the sides, showing more bandages wrapped around her legs from the hips all the way down to the top of her knee high black nin-boots that had metal straps up the sides. Her kunai pouch was no where to be seen but he could see the black band that would hold it to her thigh still in place. She wore elbow length black fingerless gloves and had each individual finger bandaged as well. Her hair had not grown out much from the last time he had seen her but there was no Konoha headband holding it in place, just a plain black band. In fact, he didn't see the Hitai-ate leaf portrayed anywhere on her outfit, only the hollow circle of the Haruno clan on the front of her skirt.

"What… do you wa… want from me… then?" he stumbled over the words, this was the most that he had spoken in months.

"The usual, what the hell are you doing with yourself now that you've completed your 'life goals' of killing your brother and Orochimaru, did you ever actually intend to return to your home village, why do you think that you can camp out within 2 days of the village for 6 months and NOT expect someone to find you and bring you here, and last but not least, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT US TO DO WITH YOU NOW?"

The last comment was yelled at him from a distance of no more than a couple of inches from his face. She was breathing heavily and her breath fanned his bangs back into his eyes and made them itch. Realizing that she had come so close to him, she backed off and crossed her arms across her chest and glared at him, waiting for a response.

"To… clarify, I… never intended… to get so… close… to the village as I… did." he says quietly, trying to force the words around his raw throat. "I was going… to come back as… soon as I thought… some things through."

"Like what?" she growls menacingly.

"Like what to… say to you… and Naruto… and everyone…"

Ashamed, he hangs his head, hiding his eyes and blocking out his view of her face.

"And… what did you come up with?"

"I'm sorry… for leaving you…" he stammers, not realizing that another couple tears of pain have escaped from his eyes. The mixture of emotions that had bubbled up just by being in her presence again were too much for his weakened self to take.

"Sasuke, are you lying to me?"

"No…"

He hears her move in the room, she moves around behind him, and he feels a tug at the straps holding him secured to the chair. The gasp of pain that slips past his lips is enough to verify what she had been fearing all along. He is breaking, and she doesn't want that to happen. Tsunade never said that she wanted him broken, he was to valuable of an asset to the village for them to dispose of him, she just wanted him in a state in which they could divine his true intentions and for him to realize the severity of his actions. She feels that they've already reached that point, and that she has to find out exactly how badly off he really is, and exactly how sorry he really was.

Then, without any warning, she unbuckles the straps, and without the support that they gave, painful as it was, he slides out of the chair into a crumpled heap on the floor.

She gasps, not realizing that the straps were all that were keeping him upright, falls to her knees next to him, fills her hand with green chakra and tries to find out just how injured he really was. She rolls him onto his back and is appalled at what she finds. His chakra reserves were completely drained and his system had started to degrade to a dangerous point, and because of this, his cells were being destroyed by the very system that makes them function. She pulls the ties open on the prison shirt he's wearing and exposes his chest and stomach and almost gags at the sight of the infectious cuts and punctures that cover his body. She has spent so much time in the hospital that she thought herself immune to sights like this, but she had never seen the aftermath of a capture and takedown of someone that the captors had absolutely no compassion for. Running her chakra filled hand over his chest, she truly sees the extent of his injuries, the internal bleeding, the broken ribs, and his faltering strength. It's truly amazing that he had lasted this long in the isolation chamber.

With a weak cough, he brings her attention back to his face, and he is trying to force a weak smile onto his face.

"I truly… am sorry… Sakura…" he says, closing his eyes in pain. He feels his consciousness start to slip away and his limbs go limp. "I'm just glad… I got… to see… you… again…"

"Sasuke, don't you dare pass out on me! I can't bear to have you leave me again!" she screams, realizing that she may just be too late to save him, his injuries and the time that they had left him in isolation being too great. "I need to stay with me, stay awake, so I can heal you."

"Don't… I don't… deserve… it…" he whispers as his vision slowly slips from grey to black and he goes completely limp in her arms.

"No… NO… SASUKE!"

*****


	3. Chapter 3

*****

2 Weeks Later

*****

"But Sakura-chan, what if he never comes out of this coma?"

"Naruto, how many times do I have to tell you, being in a coma this long is only natural, his chakra reserves were completely depleted to the point of collapse and those 'oh so gentle' ANBU that Tsunade sent after him left him so beaten up it's surprising he didn't die in the 3 days he spent in isolation."

"But…"

"No buts, you helped re-charge his chakra and even YOU were out of it for a whole day."

"Alright, but I still want him to wake up so I can pound him into the ground a couple of times for being so close and not even having the decency to come visit…"

"Naruto!"

Suddenly, a window on the third floor of the Konoha hospital, the floor reserved for patients recovering from surgery, was smashed out as a 22 year old blonde haired young man was heaved headfirst out of it. Naruto, being used to Sakura's random outbreaks of rage, was ready, and braced himself for the crash and nimbly bounced off of a nearby building in one smooth movement and jumped back in the same window. When he landed with his hands lightly touching the ground and his knees bent, he sees Sakura standing next to the window with her fists clenched so hard he swore he could hear her knuckles breaking.

"You self centered, egotistical prick, I exhaust myself to the point of collapse TWICE during surgery trying to save him and all you want is for him to recover so I can just come back and do it all again?"

"Sakura-chan, I was only kidding, please, don't hit me again…" Naruto pleads, cringing back against the wall, trying not to trip over some of the shards of the broken window.

"If you weren't who you are, I would heave you out of here and tell you never to step foot in this Hospital ever again." she fumes, slowly unclenching her fists, the anger visibly fading from her face. "But you are you, and I really don't know what I'd do without you here."

"Sakura-chan." he says, standing up. He takes 3 large strides across the room and wraps his arms around her as she buries her face into the soft orange fabric of his jacket. He feels her start to shake with silent tears and he lowers his forehead to her shoulder and tries to give her some form of comfort. "I know, it's so hard seeing him laying in that bed, hooked to all of those machines, and not knowing if he really will pull through this."

She continues to cry into his jacket and Naruto just holds her, sometimes nuzzling her shoulder or hair, sometimes just looking over at the unmoving figure of their team mate, his dark hair the only splash of color against the white of the pillow and the white of his skin. He was hooked to at least half a dozen different machines, most of which he had no idea what purpose they served. At least they didn't make any noise, after the first couple of days of listening to the overlapping beeps, he snapped and told the nurses to turn off the sound. The noise really wasn't necessary, either himself, or Sakura, but most of the time both, were always in the room and would be able to call for help if anything happened.

When he noticed that Sakura's crying was starting to slow down, and that the sun was slowly going down, he reached down and picked her up bridal style, her face still buried into his shoulder, and gently placed her down on the 1 other bed in the room, which had been left empty for them to use when they got tired during their seemingly never ending vigil. As he pulled away, Sakura looked up at him with red rimmed eyes and gave him a small smile, which was her way of saying thanks when something like this happened. Darting forward, he places a small kiss on her cheek and then pulls up the covers over her shoulders.

"Sleep Sakura, I'll keep watch."

"Ok…"

She closes her eyes and pulls her knees up to her chest underneath the blanket and doesn't fall asleep as pass out from exhaustion. Naruto smiles weakly at her slumbering figure and turns towards the doorway. Opening the door, he quietly calls to the nurse on duty down the hallway.

"We're going to need a new window in here."

"I see, we'll get someone in there right away Naruto-sama. You're just lucky it's not winter, at least you'll get some breeze in there instead of freezing to death." the nurse rolls her eyes and grabs the phone at her elbow and starts speaking into it too quietly for Naruto to hear from his location in the doorway. He smiles, and turns back into the room and closes the door. Looking again towards Sakura, he sees that she's still asleep from his little conversation with the nurse. He walks to the other side of the room and grabs the broom from the corner next to the window and begins sweeping up the shards of glass that litter the floor. The last time that this had happened, she had thrown a potted plant at him, and he had been told that the cleaning crew wasn't responsible for cleaning up after 'preventable' messes. So he had requested that a broom be left in the room at all times just in case.

Lulled into a soothing rhythm by the strokes of the broom, he began to remember what had brought him to the hospital this time, and it had all begun from a visit from a very distraught Sakura.

*****

Flashback

*****

"NARUTO!!!"

"Sakura?" he calls out into the darkness, he had dozed off on his small couch, the book that he had been trying to read by order of the Hokage had fallen out of his hands and was on the floor. His window was open to the night and he swore that he had heard his pink haired team mate yelling his name from just outside his window.

"NARUTO, I NEED YOU TO GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!!!"

"COMING!" he yells, quickly jumping to his feet, forsaking grabbing his jacket and bag for speed, and bounding out the door to his apartment and down the stairs to the street. He sees Sakura standing there shaking violently, her face bleached white with fear, and without any weapons on her at all. The only time that Naruto had seen her like that was when Kakashi-sensei had been admitted to the hospital after being poisoned by a rogue mist ninja 2 years ago. She had been put in charge of interrogating the ninja and had come out of it emotionally drained and scared for her teacher's health.

"What on earth is going on, Sakura-chan?"

"It's Sasuke, Naruto. The ANBU brought him back a few days ago." she stumbles out, tears starting to stream down her cheeks. "Tsunade put him in isolation for 3 days and she just had me interrogate him."

"What the hell? How could he be here without us knowing it?"

"That's the thing, she left orders that we not be told until she gave me the assignment. The only problem is, Naruto, he's dying!" she sobs, falling to her knees on the pavement and holding her head in her hands. "He's suffering from so many internal injuries, infections, and chakra depletion that I don't know what to do…"

"Sakura, where is he now?"

"The guards at the prison took him to the hospital and Shizune told me to get you and to meet her there ASAP."

"Then let's get going!"

"I… don't know if… I can…"

"Then I'll take you there myself."

Naruto bends over, picks Sakura up off of the ground and jumps up onto the rooftop of his building. Sakura grasps onto his shoulders tightly as he jumps from building to building towards the hospital as she continues to cry into his mesh shirt. It is late enough that he can see that there are only 2 windows that are lit in the Hospital and luckily enough for him there is a balcony outside of one of them. He takes the final jump and lands nimbly on the balcony, one arm still holding Sakura and the other one reaching for the door handle leading into the ICU waiting room. Before he can open it, Tsunade herself is pulling the door open and moving aside so Naruto can carry a suddenly quiet Sakura inside.

"Where is he?"

*****

End Flashback

*****

From that point, his memories are a jumbled mess of being dragged into the operating room, being placed in a chair next to the bed and being ordered to give up as much chakra as he could spare to help the surgeons and to feed directly into the shell of his best friend, and then passing out in that same chair when he gave too much.

Sweeping the last of the glass shards into the garbage can, he places the broom back into it's corner, and takes a seat in the one chair in the room, directly between the two beds. On his left hand side, the girl who had stood next to him these last 10 years through all of the missions and least of all the searching for their missing friend. And then, on his right, the friend, the brother that had left him for promises of power and vengence, the friend who had almost killed him in the Valley of the End only to leave him, swearing that he would gain power without killing anyone, the friend who had alluded them for all this time only to show up again without even a hello.

He didn't know who to look at, who to reach out and touch, who to worry about more. He settled for reaching out one hand to both of them, placing his left hand on Sakura's head, into the mass of silky pink hair, and his right hand on the lump that was Sasuke's shoulder underneath the blanket. Satisfied that he was connected to both of them, he settled into watching the moon rise above the rooftops.

*****


	4. Chapter 4

*****

Author's note: I really find that Sasuke is incredibly OOC here, but I'm kind of going with my gut here and assuming that his 'mission of vengance' has changed him and coming so close to death has really opened his eyes to how much he almost lost. So, there it is, if you have any suggestions on how to keep the mood but have him not so OOC, feel free to Review and let me know!

*****

Naruto couldn't remember when he fell asleep, but the next thing he knew was that one of the figures that he was holding so desperately to was moving slowly. The sun still hadn't come up yet so the room was still dark as he looked around. Assuming that it was only Sakura moving in her sleep, Naruto closed his eyes again and tried to doze off again. Suddenly he realized that his left hand was in his lap, and only his right hand was where he remembered placing it before he fell asleep.

On Sasuke's shoulder.

Jumping out of the chair, he turns towards the bed on his right, and from the light of the moon, looks into a pair of deeply confused, onyx colored eyes.

"Na… Naruto? Where… am I?"

"Oh my god, Sasuke? You're awake!" Naruto gasps, moving towards the side of the bed. He slowly reaches out as if to make sure that he's not dreaming.

"Hn… dobe." Sasuke mumbles, still trying to figure out what happened.

"I can't believe it, you're really awake!" Naruto says, moving between the beds and reaching out to shake Sakura's shoulder.

"Wha… what?" she mumbles, shaking her hair out of her face. "What's the matter, Naruto?"

"See for yourself!" Naruto said, stepping to the side, so she could see Sasuke slowly sitting up and turning his face towards her, his eyes still dark and confused.

"Sasuke?" she says, tears brimming up in her eyes and a smile spreading slowly across her face.

"SASUKE!"

She suddenly flings herself at him, wrapping her arms around him, being careful of the tubes still connected to his arms and chest. Naruto stands by, awkwardly shifting his weight from foot to foot, watching Sakura cling to the man she had worked so hard to save and Sasuke slowly and stiffly wrap his arms around her back to hold her against him.

"I'm… sorry." he hears Sasuke whisper to her. "I'm so sorry,"

"I can't believe you're apologizing at a time like this." she says in return, pulling away from him so she can look him in the eyes. "You're finally awake!"

"I guess… so. But, I thought I told you… not to save me." he says quietly, looking directly at her, his eyes dark and thoughtful.

"How could I not?" she stammers, rubbing the back of her hand across her eyes. "How could we live knowing we let you die?"

"Yeah, it's been hell trying to convince ourselves that you were still out there after we heard you sent your little 'team' away and took off on your own." Naruto grumbles, moving to sit next to Sakura on the bed. "And, on top of that, we've been sitting here at your bedside worried sick that you wouldn't pull out of that coma you've been in."

"How long have I been out?" Sasuke asks, pulling his arms back from around Sakura and gently laying his bandaged hands in his lap and looking towards Naruto, causing Sakura to turn towards him as well, keeping an arm around him, creating a triangle of their bodies.

"15 days now." Naruto replies. "Sakura said that it wasn't uncommon for someone as injured as you were to be out that long, but I could tell that the other nurses were starting to worry."

"Oh…"

Suddenly, Naruto went silent and his face fell with sudden worry.

"Sakura, you know what's going to happen now that he's awake…" he whispers.

"Oh no, Sasuke, he's right…" she gasps, her hand coming to cup her mouth.

"What? What's going to happen now…"

"If Tsunade finds out that you're awake, she's going to put you up on trial for abandoning the village. That's part of why she sent someone in to interrogate you, to find out your true intentions of why you were camped out so close to us. Most people are going to assume that you were spying on the village for the Akatsuki or something…" she explains, worry coloring every word she says.

"Well, I told you why I was so close by, I honestly didn't know how close I really was. I was in such a daze after I left… them… that I just ran in a random direction until I couldn't run anymore." Saskue replies, dropping his gaze to his bandaged hands. Even under the bandages he could see just how thin his hands and arms were, and he realized just how close to death he must have been.

"Naruto," Sakura says, grabbing his nearest hand without removing her other arm from around Sasuke's shoulders, "We have to do something. I'm not sure that our testimony will hold up if everyone at the trial has about the same amount of compassion as those ANBU that grabbed him had."

"I agree Sakura-chan, but what can we do? Remember, I'm still only a Chunnin if they start pulling the rank card and you're only a medic-nin." he replies, squeezing her hand. "Plus, we're his team mates, we're going to be expected to take his side, whether it's right or not."

"Hn…"

They both turn to look at Sasuke, who had dropped his head again letting his hair hide his eyes.

"What? Are you feeling ok?" Sakura asks, running her hand over his back. Even though he couldn't see her hand, he could feel that she was using her chakra to check his injuries again, and he trembled every time that it hit a sore spot.

"You two seem to be very comfortable around each other… maybe I should have just stayed away… not caused any awkwardness…"

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto stutters, his face turning a bright red. "With you there would never be any awkwardness… you were always the missing piece between us, always on our minds, constantly for these last 10 years."

"How could you say something like that Sasuke-kun?" Sakura says, as the soothing presence of her chakra receded and she removed her hand from him, trying to limit the amount of contact she had with his abused skin. "We promised ourselves that would find out what happened to you and bring you back before anything else."

"… You've been waiting... for me?"

"Yes." they both reply, then look each other in the eyes and smile.

"We couldn't be complete without you, Sasuke-kun." Sakura says, using her free hand to lift Sasuke's face up and then brush his hair out of his eyes. "And now that you're here, I finally feel complete, like I haven't felt for a long time. Right, Naruto?"

"Right, Sakura-chan." Naruto confirms.

"Hn… I don't know what to say…" Sasuke mumbles. "For these last couple of months, I've been trying to find something to live for, something that matters to me. And all that I could think of was… was…"

"Was what, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura prompts.

"Was being a team again, with you two." he finishes, trying to drop his head again with embarrassment. The only thing that prevented him from doing that was Sakura's hand that was still cupped to his cheek. "Ever since I was a child, and sometimes even then, I've never really had a family. Father never really paid me any attention, Itachi was always the favorite and then… after... you know, I had no one. When I was out there, away from you two, I felt like there was a piece of me that was missing, two pieces actually…"

"And now? Now how do you feel?" Naruto says, squeezing Sakura's hand again.

"… Complete… finally." Sasuke finishes, placing both his hands on top of Sakura and Naruto's held hands.

"Please, will you two ever forgive me for what I've done, for making you wait so long to see what this really feels like?" Sasuke says, pulling his face away from Sakura's hand and dropping his face towards the bed, worried that this would be the only time he would feel like this.

He didn't get an answer, but he felt Sakura pull him towards her, tucking her head under his chin, and Naruto wrap his arm around him, pulling him into a 3 way hug that was so warm and welcoming that he didn't need a verbal answer.

This is where he truly belonged, no matter what would come. And the future still held questions and obsticals that none of them could ever have imagined.

*****


	5. Chapter 5

"But Tsunade, isn't there anything you can do?"

Tsunade was standing at the foot of Sasuke's bed a couple of days later. She had shown up with a message from the village elders demanding that Sasuke be moved back to the prison, now that he had recovered, until his trial. Instead of having him dragged off like the prisoner they were trying to make him out to be, she figured that she would ask the three of them and see if they could think of an alternative, and hopefully between the 4 of them be able to come up with a solution that didn't involve separating the 3 young adults that sat on the bed in front of her. After reading the letter of demand to them, Sasuke had dropped his head to stare at his hands laying on top of the bed sheets, Naruto's face had gone red with anger, but had yet to say anything, and Sakura had been the only one to react.

"I'm sorry Sakura, but the best that I can come up with now is for Sasuke to be put under direct supervision of the ANBU under house arrest until the trial date is set." Tsunade says, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. She could feel a headache coming on, and would do anything for a relaxing cup of sake back in her office.

"But Granny Tsu-"

"No buts, Naruto. It's the best alternative that I can think of that carries enough of a 'punishment' to satisfy the elders. However…" Tsunade grumbles, looking at a now subdued Naruto, who was perched on the bed on Sasuke's left hand side. He made no contact with the other boy, but Sakura, on Sasuke's right side, had her arm around his back, supporting him without making it look like he needed the support of the pillows plied behind him. She then holds the letter out in front of her and procedes to tear it into small pieces and dropped them on the floor. "However, I am not going to listen to a bunch of ancient old geezers and what they think I should do with my authority." That comment earned her a grin from Naruto and a small smile from Sakura. Sasuke's face was hidden from her by his hair and she couldn't see what his reaction was.

Ever since Saskue had awakened from his coma 2 days ago, he had been the topic of many arguments over at the Hokage's tower. The elders demanded that he be put up on trial for his crimes, including abandoning the village without notice, evading capture by various Konoha ninja over the past 10 years, including the attempt by Naruto, Sakura and Sai, and for being found within 'acceptable spying range' of the village when he was finally captured. Tsunade thought that this was entirely ludicrous. From the obvious concern and acceptance of his former team mates Naruto and Sakura, she was entirely sure that Sasuke could leave what was in the past in the past, and was ready to move on with his life and be cooperative with the village and it's authority. Plus, on top of that, Naruto had a long conversation with her the previous night that had illuminated his observations that Sasuke was finally starting to absorb the fact that he was the last of the Uchiha now and, for his clan to ever continue, he must settle down and start a family. She didn't need the subtle undercurrent coming from the young blonde that he thought that it would be Sakura that would eventually help with the "rebuilding" part and the pain that it was causing him, knowing that in all possibility he would eventually be losing the girl that he had loved and supported for so many years now. But, if that's really how he felt, he never let it show, being all smiles and comfort whenever he was in Sakura or Sasuke's presence.

"Alright, but where would he be 'locked up' with the ANBU supervisors? Would we be able to see him? Would he be able to start training again now that he is pretty much recovered?" Sakura says, rubbing her hand up and down Sasuke's back, trying to keep him as calm as possible. What she didn't know is that he was already as calm as he could be in this kind of situation. He had already made up his mind on what he would do.

"Whatever you deem necessary, Hokage-sama, I will submit to without difficulty." he said smoothly, lifting his head to look at the village leader without fear, making Naruto and Sakura both look at him with shock.

"What do you mean, 'submit without difficulty', teme?" Naruto stutters, his face darkened with concern. "We've been trying for 2 days now to figure out something that wouldn't have you locked up in some box with a couple of ANBU breathing down your neck every second of the day."

"I mean just as I said, Naruto." Sasuke replies, looking Tsunade in the eyes the whole time without fear. "I will accept the consequences of my actions without argument and without a struggle. The only thing that I must ask is for that Naruto and Sakura still be able to visit me, I will not tolerate being put through isolation again."

"And I won't tolerate you being in there again." Tsunade agrees. "Someone who has gone through such horrors as you described to me yesterday during your psychological evaluation should not be in isolation."

"So what are you going to do then, Tsunade-sama?" Sakura asks, looking towards her mentor.

"Well, if Sasuke agrees, he will be moved into Kakashi's apartment until further notice. Kakashi will serve as the senior ANBU representative assigned to monitor his movements and, if neither of you two disagree, I am hereby promoting you both to honorary ANBU status until you can both pass the entrance exam. One of you, or both of you, will accompany Sasuke at all times, day and night, until the date of his trial is set by the elders and myself."

"What, really?" Sakura exclaims, a smile spreading across her face as she grabbed for Sasuke and Naruto's hands with her own. "Can I still be a medic-nin and an ANBU? I thought you told me years ago that I had to choose one or the other." she mumbles, confused.

"I don't see why not, now that the situation calls for someone with ANBU status that may be called on to perform medical ninjutsu, seeing as Sasuke is still considered an invalid from regular ninja work and, well, Naruto isn't always keeping himself in perfect health either." Tsunade replies, snickering to herself. "If the two of you are assigned to watching him, this way you won't have to bring him to the hospital if he relapses because of his chakra depletion."

Naruto was struck completely speechless. His face was frozen in a mask of shock and happiness.

"Well, I take it that from your silence that you all agree. I will send Kakashi by tomorrow morning in time for Sasuke's discharge and I suggest that you two both get studying. I will send an ANBU by later this afternoon with the necessary material, because the entrance exam isn't for rookies." Tsunade says, turning towards the door and pulling it open.

"Thank you so much, Hokage-sama, this means a lot to us." Sakura says, smiling widely at both her mentor and her two team mates, who both nodded in agreement with her statement. "From all of us."

"You're welcome. Now, I have to go convince the elders that this is the best option for all of us." Tsunade says, chuckling to herself again. "Oh, and by the way, if I were you three, I would make the most of the rest of today. After tonight, there may not be too many chances to talk amongst yourselves without Kakashi hanging on to every word that is said." she finishes, winking at the three of them before walking out the door and closing it behind her.

*****

"Wow, ANBU huh, Sakura-chan?"

"Naruto, I'm sure she heard you the first three times you said that in the last half hour." Sasuke mumbles, sitting painfully on the side of the bed that he had been occupying for almost the last 3 weeks. He had told them that he was sick and tired of laying around like an invalid and wanted to go for a walk.

"Yes Naruto, but we still have to pass the exam. From what I've heard from Ino, it's not very easy. She failed it the first 2 times she took it and she studied for months before hand each time." Sakura replied finally, still digging through the bag of clothing that had been dropped off at the hospital after Tsunade had left so that Sasuke could get dressed and be presentable for his discharge tomorrow morning. She finally stood up, holding out a plain blue long sleeved shirt and a pair of loose black ninja shorts. Other than the color and the size, the outfit looked almost the same as the outfit that he used to wear when they were kids. When she shook out the shirt to show him, it even had the outline of the Uchiha fan in black and grey printed just under the collar on the back.

"It looks like they raided the Uchiha compound to try and find you some clothing that you would feel comfortable in, Sasuke-kun." Sakura commented, bringing the clothing over to him and setting it on the chair next to the bed. Standing next to him, she offered her hand to help him stand up. He looked first at her hand and then at her face, seeming to not know what to do with it, before grasping her hand with his own and accepting her help to get unsteadily to his feet.

"Do you feel dizzy at all? Light headed?" she asked, holding tightly onto his hand as he found his balance. He certainly wasn't the self assured Sasuke she remembered from her childhood, he was still emaciated and weak from being in the coma, but at least he had the energy to do something other than lay in bed and complain about being so dependant on others.

"Hn…" he mumbles in reply. "No, I feel fine, Sakura."

"Alright, I'll go let the nurses know that we're going to take you on a small walk around the hospital gardens and that we'll be within calling distance if you feel too weak." She lets go of his hand after giving it a small squeeze of encouragement and turns and leaves the room, closing the door behind her. Sasuke looks at the clothing she had layed out on the chair and reaches down to grab it.

Naruto, who had watched the entire scene from his position leaning against the wall next to the window, smirked at him.

"Wow, she's certainly warmed up to you, huh teme?" he says, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Shut up, dobe. She's just worried about me as usual." Sasuke replies, slowly peeling off the thin white shirt he had been wearing while laying in bed and pulled the new blue one over his head. Knowing that he had the Uchiha symbol displayed on him immediately gave him a small amount of relief. Sitting back down on the side of the bed, he pulled on the shorts over the white ones he had been wearing in bed and pulled the drawstring closed, noticing just how far he had to pull to get the shorts to fit around his slim waist. Already he had noticed that he had lost a lot of weight, but he knew that a lot of what was lost was muscle and he could build that back quick enough once he regained his strength.

"At least you look presentable, not like the last time you were stuck in here, you went haring off wearing nothing but the hospital clothes and without shoes even!" Naruto commented, handing him a pair of sandals. "And this time I hope you won't be trying to kick my ass as soon as we step outside."

Sasuke threw a look at him that he thought was menacing as he grabbed the sandals out of Naruto's hand, but all it did was cause his friend to bend over laughing.

"If you think you can scare me, teme, you've got a lot to learn about what you've missed around here."

"I just hope I'll have the chance to listen to 10 years of gossip…" Sasuke replies, fastening the sandals on his feet, noticing that he still had some bandages on his legs.

"You still worried about the trial?" Naruto says, instantly sobering up from his laughter upon hearing the worry in Sasuke's voice.

"How can I not be worried. Tsunade said that the elders would be perfectly happy to have me locked up for the rest of my existence…"

"But you know that Sakura and I will never let that happen, even if we have to leave the village with you and find somewhere else to live." Naruto says, coming over to sit next to him on the side of the bed and placing a hand on Sasuke's knee. "We'll do anything to make sure that you get through this and are able to re-build you clan like you always said you wanted to."

"Hn…"

"Anything, teme. Anything we have to."

"Thanks Naruto."

*****


	6. Chapter 6

The sun was slowly setting on Sasuke's last day in the hospital, the three of them had taken an enjoyable walk in the hospital gardens, Sasuke's arm always held by either a worried Sakura or a smug Naruto and the rest of his support coming from a wooden cane that Sakura had borrowed from the nurses station. They didn't talk much, just commenting on the flowers that were blooming in the garden, how the weather had been over the past few days, and other utter commonplaces. Naruto tried asking Sakura questions on what she thinks will be covered in the ANBU test but she had silenced him with a glare, saying that they'd talk about that later when the messenger dropped off their books.

They had returned to Sasuke's room and helped him get back into bed, trying to convince him that he needed the rest. He naturally tried to refuse but eventually allowed them to get him at least to sit on the bed propped up with a small mountain of pillows. Shortly after, a nurse knocked on the door, and left a small bundle of books, that she said had been dropped off by an ANBU in full uniform, mask included, for them to study. When Sakura opened the bundle, there was 3 books for each of them, with a note taped to the front of the one on top stating that they had 2 weeks before they would sit the written portion of the test with the physical evaluation to be completed after they were deemed to have passed the first part. Sakura immediately sat down on the side of the second bed in the room and had begun to read, her forehead creased with concentration. Naruto tried to start in on the first book but he found it to be all about spying and stealth movements, with information on mandatory jutsus and movements that were expected of all ANBU members. The first jutsu that was explained was a pared down version of his own Kage Bunshin jutsu, one that only created an illusion of clones. He quickly skipped over that one, and the second one, which was a basic teleportation jutsu, like the one that Kakashi often used. He had already mastered his own version, one that left a cloud of leaves behind instead of smoke. But the third one had him stuck. It was instructions on a jutsu that increased a person's eyesight, both the distance that they could clearly see and the ability to see changes in chakra to the point of seeing it like a heat shimmer.

"Hey Sasuke, what exactly does your Sharingan do for your eyes?" he asks, placing the book in front of his friend, pointing to the jutsu outlined there. "Apparently I need to know something like this for the test."

"Dobe, I can't teach you the Sharingan, you can't just 'learn' it." Sasuke snaps back. Naruto looks at him, stung.

"I was only asking what it does and maybe if I could find something that I could do that would replicate it." Naruto complains, snatching the book away from him. "If you don't want to help, just say so."

"Naruto…" Sakura mumbles, not taking her attention away from her book. She had started reading the second one already, so she must have already finished the part that he was stuck on.

"I didn't mean it like that, dobe, I'm just tired of people asking me to 'teach them the secret'." Sasuke grumbles, taking the book back out of Naruto's hands and taking a closer look at it. "Well, it looks like they are trying to explain a basic chakra focusing jutsu that can increase the efficiency of one's eyes." he explains, pointing out a small diagram in the bottom corner of the page. "Just like the walking on water exercise, or climbing trees, you just have to re-focus your chakra to a place behind your eyes."

"Huh, lemme try it." Naruto says, cupping his hands in front of his chest and closing his eyes. Sasuke, wanting to see how he was going to try this, blinked and invoked his Sharingan to watch Naruto's chakra flows. Looking at him, he saw Naruto intensify the flow that naturally goes to his eyes until it burned with a fiery intensity.

"Ok, now open your eyes." Sasuke says, thinking that Naruto had strengthened the flow enough. Naruto opens his eyes and immediately closes them, tears streaming out of the corners.

"Holy Crap!" he screams, falling off the side of the bed, startling Sakura out of her concentration, causing her to look at him sitting on the floor and start laughing.

"You put too much chakra into it, Naruto. You have to moderate the flow, and it's easier to regulate it if you start with your eyes open." she chuckles, going back to her book.

"Jeeze, it's not as easy as it looks." Naruto says, rubbing his eyes to rid himself of the tears that had leaked out. Sasuke just smirked.

"It takes a bit to get used to as well, teme." Sasuke comments, pointing to his own eyes. "Seeing things that your brain isn't used to processing can be confusing at first."

"Haha, just let me try this again." Naruto says sarcastically, cupping his hands in front of himself again, but this time, he keeps his eyes open and focuses on a point on the opposite wall. Focusing again on his chakra flows, Sasuke notices that this time, the chakra didn't burn so brightly, but the flow was definitely stronger than usual. Eventually, Naruto stopped squinting and his pupils shrank to the size of a pinprick, leaving only a wide pool of blue in their place.

"Wow, that's cool." he comments, looking around the room with this heightened state of sight. "Hey Sakura-chan, did you know that your top is kind of see-through?"

"NARUTO!" she screams, covering her chest with her arms as she glares at him. "Stop it!"

Sasuke chuckles as he blinks, letting the Sharingan fad away again. "Well teme, I think you've gotten the hand of that one, huh? What's the next jutsu?"

The two young men bend over the book and start mumbling to themselves, flipping the pages and pointing at different things, determining if Naruto already had a skill that could duplicate the jutsu needed for the exam.

Sakura smiled and went back to her studying. Luckilly for her, Ino had sat the written portion of the ANBU test twice in the past 2 years, so Sakura already knew most of what was going to be included, what with being Ino's study partner for both tests. It was the physical aspect of the test that she was worried about. Ino had struggled through the physical part, saying that it had been more difficult than any physical training or mission that she had ever done. She had passed, but only barely. She had spent a week in the hospital after the test, but had been presented with her ANBU badge and custom white mask, in the shape of a lynx's face, when she recovered. She was hoping that Sasuke was up to some training soon because she was going to need both his and Naruto's help to get up to ANBU physical standards.

As the sun continued to set, the room was mostly quiet with reading and silent conversation between the two guys. Sakura quietly stood up, stretched her arms above her head and went to turn on a light when suddenly a dark figure landed lightly on the balcony outside the window. She shrieked and turned on the light, only to reveal a familiar face.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaims, opening the window so the silver haired ANBU captain could come into the room properly.

"Sorry for startling you, Sakura." Kakashi apologizes, smiling under his mask.

"It's ok, Kakashi, we've been studying pretty hard and my brain is kind of overflowing right now, right Naruto?" she stammers, blushing lightly.

"I agree, Sakura-chan, and on top of that, I'm starving." Naruto grumbles, as his stomach lets out a loud growl, causing him to lay a hand on his stomach and laughing. "Who's up for some Ichiraku?"

"Actually, I was going to suggest that you and Sakura step out and get something for the 4 of us to eat." Kakashi says, sitting down in the chair that they had moved next to the window. "I need to talk with Sasuke for a few moments."

"Alright, Kakashi. Come on Sakura-chan, let's go stretch our legs." Naruto says, standing up and grabbing her hand, pulling her towards the door.

"Will you be alright without us for company for a while, Sasuke-kun?" she asks as she is dragged out the door.

"Go, I'm sick and tired of this damn hospital food." Sasuke says, grinning. "Go, I'll be fine."

"Alright, we'll be back." she calls, as the door swings shut behind them.

"Ok Kakashi, what did you have to talk to me about?"

*****


	7. Chapter 7

"What do you think Kakashi-sensei needs to talk to Sasuke about, Naruto?" Sakura asks, as they walk down the street towards their favorite ramen shop in town.

"I don't know, maybe he needs to know what flavour of toothpaste he wants, teme is going to be staying with him until this… trial thing happens." Naruto replies, his sarcastic comment earning him a light punch on the shoulder. He grins at his pink haired team mate. "It can't be anything really serious or else Kakashi would have been in a really serious mood, wouldn't he have been? He was all smiles back there."

"Or, he could have been putting on a happy face for the two of us until we left." Sakura points out, starting to get worried. "I really think that Tsunade really wasn't telling us the whole story. I mean, why promote us to ANBU when she could have just assigned anyone to look after him? I understand that some of the ANBU really don't like Sasuke-kun much, but why get two of his closest friends and his old teacher to be his mentors?"

"I'm not sure, Sakura-chan…"

*****

"Sasuke, I'm here to tell you that things really aren't as they appear to be."

Kakashi had crossed his arms across his chest, still sitting in the chair he had claimed, and stared at his former student.

"I don't understand." Sasuke says, looking at the silver haired jounin. "What didn't Tsunade tell us? And on top of that, what do Sakura and Naruto not know but you do?"

"Well, it begins with the fact that the two of them really don't understand how difficult a job the three of us now have, in guarding you." Kakashi says dryly. "Tsunade didn't want to have them worrying about you and she didn't want you to know at all, but I feel that it could be to your, and ultimately our, advantage if you at least know the truth."

"Which is?"

"That the three of us are not only supposed to be preventing you from escaping from your appointed trial and subsequent punishments, but we are also protecting you from the 'certain individuals' who don't feel that you even belong in this village anymore." Kakashi finishes. "There are certain factions that have been developing in the village that feel that Konoha should go back to how it once was, as a true 'hidden village' and that means 'secret village'. They want Tsunade and the elders to start enforcing a set of strict rules that deem that if an individual doesn't belong here, that they either be banned form the village or… ahem, permanently removed from it."

"But, that's complete idiocy…" Sasuke spits out, unable to restrain himself. Through Kakashi's explanation, his face had been slowly turning red and a fiery anger had started building in his stomach. Who was he if not the only survivor of one of the founding clans of this village, how dare someone, or many someones, say that he didn't belong here?

"I know, and that's what we all think, Tsunade included." Kakashi soothes waving his hands at him, trying to calm him down. "You don't have to worry about that happening any time soon. The only problem is…"

"There are people from these 'factions' that are in high places, right?" Sasuke deduces, letting out the breath that he had been holding behind his clenched teeth.

"Exactly. The most notable being a couple of ANBU officers and a few of the new civilian business owners that actually have enough influence on large amounts of people to be deemed important."

"So, what do we do? Can we expect some of these people to try and come after me personally, to make an example of me to prove their points?" Sasuke says, trying to think of this from Kakashi's point of view and attempting to look at this rationally instead of with his emotions.

"I don't think so, not directly, now that Tsunade has made it clear that she has no intentions of leaving you unprotected, whether or not you need protecting…" Kakashi starts, giving Sasuke a long, hard look, as if to see if he would rise to the challenge.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I am in really no shape right now to defend myself against anything, let alone a couple of bullies with an agenda that includes my death." Sasuke says, ashamed to actually tell anyone just how weak he really was feeling.

"Alright, that's what I wanted to hear." Kakashi says, smiling under his mask. "You actually seem to have done a bit of growing up while you were away. The old Sasuke would have never admitted to anything, let alone needing protection. Well, with that settled, the plan is this: Tsunade is making it clear to everyone that you are not a person to be messed with, not with the old 'Team 7' re-assembled for your protection, and that you will also be under the watchful eye of three of the most respected people in this village. If that doesn't keep the 'bullies', as you put it, away then, well, I'll give up reading Icha Icha for the rest of the month!"

"If that's a bet, old man, then you're on." Sasuke says, chuckling. "If the three of you are really as respected as you say you are, then I think we shouldn't have any problems."

"Well," Kakashi starts, climbing stiffly out of the chair and walking the 3 steps it takes him to put him directly next to Sasuke, still propped up in bed, and puts his hand on his shoulder. "I'll be back tomorrow morning to pick you up. I've got a spare room at my place and I just finished sweeping out the dust this afternoon."

"Thanks, I'll be here ready to go at first light tomorrow morning." Sasuke confirms.

"What, sick and tired of this place already?" Kakashi comments, grinning.

"You know it, if I have to spend another day looking at these walls, I'm going to go insane."

"I know how you feel." his former sensei says, chuckling under his breath. He walks to the door, opens it, and takes a step into the hallway. "Oh, just tell Naruto to eat my share of the ramen, I'm not hungry." he says, before closing the door behind him.

Sasuke just laughs quietly to himself.

*****

"Oi, teme, we're back!" Sasuke hears a few minutes later, as Sakura pushes the door open again, loaded down with 2 plain white bags, obviously filled with, not only ramen, but he could see a bag with some red tomatoes sticking out the top of the one clutched in her right hand.

"Sorry we took a bit longer that we should have, I wanted to stop and get you some other things to eat other than just ramen." Sakura says, confirming his guess that she also didn't just want Naruto's favorite food. Just because the blonde could live off nothing else, he assumed that she had been dealing with his lack of variety by just buying other things for herself, and now for him as well. What really amazed him was that she still remembered his favorite food after all these years.

"Yeah, and Sakura-chan couldn't come back with anything less than market fresh tomatoes… all the way on the other side of the village market fresh tomatoes…" Naruto grumbles, moving through the door and closing it behind him. He also had 2 bags in his hands, one white and one brown. The white bag was the one with the bowls of ramen in it, but the brown one was small and lumpy. He couldn't begin to guess what was in there, but he didn't really care, Sakura had just pulled the tomatoes out of her bag and had placed them on his lap.

"There, and I think it was worth the extra trip, Sasuke-kun?" She says, pointing to the 4 perfectly ripe tomatoes that were sitting in a clear bag, still left on the vine. "They're right in season right now and the man at the market grows them himself."

"I… I haven't had tomatoes in so long…" Sasuke mumbles to himself, thinking it was too quiet for anyone else to hear.

"Why not?" Sakura asks, continuing to pull things out of her two bags. Naruto had already pulled out his first bowl of ramen and had dug right in, slurping at the flavourful noodles while sitting cross legged on the floor, a goofy smile on his face.

"Well… I was on the run for quite a while after leaving my team behind, and I didn't want to venture into any towns or villages in fear of someone recognizing me as a criminal. Before that… well, one of my team mates was allergic, so we never got any with our provisions." he says, pulling the clear bag open and, reaching for the small knife she passes him, cuts it into quarters and pops one right into his mouth, a couple drops of juice splattering on his shirt.

Sakura lets out a small giggle at the sight of the cool, aloof Sasuke dropping all dignity over just a slice of tomato. "I'm glad you like them." she says, still giggling. She doesn't get a reply, he has already started in on the second slice. She looks at the rest of the food she has pulled out of her bags: 2 small bento boxes, a couple cartons of milk, and some sausage buns from this great bakery she knew of. Suddenly she realizes that someone wasn't in the room with them.

"Where did Kakashi-sensei go?" she asks Sasuke, who has finished the first tomato and was currently digging through the bottom of one of the bags, obviously looking for a napkin to clean himself off with. She hands him one, they were in the other bag, and looks him in the eye.

"He left a few minutes ago." Sasuke says, smiling at her in thanks for the napkin. He dabs at the spots on his shirt and wipes his mouth. "Oh, dobe, he said to tell you that you could eat his share of the ramen too."

"Wo hoo!" they both hear from Naruto's position on the floor, and Sakura leans over to see him digging back into the bag, his first bowl laying empty next to him on the floor. "More for me!"

Sakura lets out a laugh and, to her surprise, Sasuke chuckles along with her. She looks at him in surprise and then smiles.

"Well, what else did you bring me?" he says, looking at her with a smile on his face. "If it's anything as good as these," he gestures towards the remaining tomatoes on his lap "then I predict I'm going to be looking better in no time!"

She hadn't heard him be so cheerful ever before in the time that she had known him. A smile on his face that warmed her heart, and a chuckle in his voice that made her remember the days when they were kids and had not a care in the world.

"Aaah, well, I brought bento boxes, and sausage buns…" she says, moving the now empty bags onto the floor and sitting on the bed next to him, pointing out her selections. He moves over, making room for her next to him against the pillows and puts an arm around her back, to balance himself as he leaned over to catch the smell coming from the sausage buns, smiling again.

"I'll have one of everything! I'm starving!"

*****

Author's note: Thanks everyone for the hits, I'm glad that people are actually reading the story! I have had two reviews already (Thanks guys!) and would love to hear more feedback from the readers, so please hit that lovely little green button below and let me know what you think so far! Thanks! *Hugs*


	8. Chapter 8

After dinner was a memory, Naruto had managed to get himself off of the floor and onto the chair that Kakashi had been sitting in, and Sakura continued to sit next to Sasuke on the bed, with Sasuke's arm still around her back. The sun had set and, because they had left the drapes open on the large windows lining one side of the room, the room was bathed in the light of the full moon. None of them had moved to turn on the lights and they all sat in silence, just enjoying the peace of the moment.

"Well, I think I need to get going." Sakura says, reaching her arms above her head, stretching.

"Mmmm?" Naruto mumbles, having dozed off from the 5 bowls of ramen he had inhaled in record time. "What?"

"I said I need to get going." Sakura repeats, swinging her feet over the side of the bed.

"Hn…"

She turns back towards Sasuke and smiles. "Don't worry, I'm just going to go home, have a quick shower and I'll be right back, alright?"

"I guess." Sasuke mumbles, looking from her back to Naruto. "You going too?"

"Yeah Teme, I guess I've got to go get a shower too. That's the one thing this hospital doesn't have, showers for the visitors." Naruto says, standing up and pulling his jacket back on.

"Maybe one of us should stay behind and keep Sasuke-kun company, Naruto, until the other gets back." Sakura points out. "Remember what Tsunade-shishou said."

"Right, well, what would I be if not a gentleman if I didn't allow the ladies to go first." Naruto says, with a mocking bow to his pink haired friend, which earned him one of the bags that the food had came in being crumpled up and hurled at his head.

"What idiot ever called you a gentleman?" Sasuke points out, rolling his eyes. Not wanting to tell them about Kakashi's warning, he was glad that the two of them had agreed to not go at the same time.

"Alright, I'll go first, but I'll be right back, ok?" Sakura says, pulling on her black boots and looks around for her jacket. "Blast, where did I put my coat?"

"Take mine."

She turns around and sees Sasuke pointing to the dark blue jacket that had come with his clothing that was laying over the foot of the other bed in the room.

"Thanks." she says, picking up the jacket and, pulling it across her shoulders, she turns back towards him. "Well, I'll be back soon guys, don't kill each other while I'm gone." Pulling the door open, she disappears into the hallway and closes the door behind her.

With a small thump, Naruto sits back down in the chair and slouches over. Sasuke leans back against the pillows on the bed and stares at the ceiling.

"Hey dobe…" Sasuke mumbles.

"What?"

"What's in that brown bag you brought back with the food?" he says, pointing at the bag that had been placed in the corner, still untouched.

"Oh, that, well, I brought you a little care package for tomorrow." Naruto says, looking over at the bag. "I was going to wait until tomorrow to give it to you, Sakura said you would feel better at Kakashi's place if you actually felt like you were at home, but it looks like we've got time to kill."

Naruto gets up out of the chair, crosses the room, and picks up the bag. Dropping down on the other bed, Sasuke sits up and looks at the bag curiously.

"What do you mean by 'feeling more at home'?" Sasuke asks as Naruto opens the bag and reaches inside. He starts pulling out some of his old things that he had left behind at his apartment all those years ago, some old books and scrolls that he vaguely remembered, a couple of picture frames which he couldn't make out the photos in them, some more clothing, and an old weapons pouch which looked full.

"When did you get all of that?" he asks, looking at the books. "This is all from my old apartment."

"Well, when you were in here in that coma, Sakura sent me there to get some things of yours to put in the hospital room if you were to be in here for any long period of time after you woke up." Naruto says, placing the now empty bag on the floor next to the bed. "But when Tsunade told us that you were going to stay with Kakashi, Sakura thought that we should bring it so that you could have some of your own things there. And…" he starts, picking up one of the picture frames. "This one is actually a copy of mine, I wasn't sure if you actually had a copy, so I had it made up and framed for you."

Sasuke reaches out and takes the picture frame as Naruto hands it over to him. Turning the picture towards the moonlight coming in from the window, he sees the original team 7 photo. Smiling slightly to himself, he looks at the picture of himself, glaring at the camera, Sakura smiling widely with her hands in front of her face, and Naruto glaring at him, all topped off with Kakashi smiling that goofy, one eyed smile of his.

"Actually, I did have a copy of this one." Sasuke says fondly, placing the picture frame on his lap, tracing the outline of the silver frame with a finger.

"Really, I didn't find it anywhere in your apartment." Naruto says, confused.

"I took that one with me." Sasuke says, looking at his old friend. "I had it in my pocket all the way up to when I reached Orochimaru's. Then, it was hidden in one of the books in my room wherever we went. Even though I wanted to sever ties with you all, I just couldn't let go of that one last piece of my past."

"Wow, teme, you actually do have a soft side, don't you?" Naruto teases, poking Saskue in the shoulder.

The two guys spend some time going through the rest of the contents of the bag, re-living some old memories and Naruto telling Sasuke stories of some of the things that had been happening in the village since Sasuke had been gone. Sooner than expected, the door to the room opened again to reveal a freshly showered and clothed Sakura, still wearing the jacket that Sasuke had lent her to wear home.

"Your turn, smelly." she says to Naruto, placing the jacket on the second bed, revealing her new outfit of a red long sleeved top, held close to her waist with a white belt and came down to almost her knees, but was slit up the sides for freedom of movement. Under that was a pair of plain black pants with what he assumed were the same boots on her feet. She had her weapons pouch in place on her leg and another small pack on her hip.

"I do not smell, Sakura-chan." Naruto protests, lifting up an arm and sniffing at himself.

"Just go, we'll see you later dobe." Sasuke says, forcing his eyes away from their female companion to look at Naruto.

"Alright, be right back!" he calls, bounding over to the door and, in the blink of an eye, the door was closed firmly behind him.

"Well, what did the two of you get up to?" Sakura asks, sitting back next to Sasuke on the bed. He catches the smell of oranges and flowers from her hair which he assumes is the shampoo that she used. She looks at the small pile of things on the other bed and smiles, reaching for one of the books. "Oh, Naruto showed you what was in the bag. Did we miss anything you still want?" she asks, looking at him.

"Um, no, I don't think so." Sasuke replies, taking a mental inventory of the stuff he half remembered being in the apartment. "Most of what should be left in there now is just technical books and stuff like that. Kakashi should have most of them at his place so I can just borrow his if I need any of them."

"That's good." she says, flipping through the pages of the book she now held in her hands. He remembered this one to be a book of poetry his mother had once owned. She paused at some pages, sometimes smiling lightly at what she had read, before closing the book and placing it back in the pile.

"So, what did Kakashi have to say to you earlier?" she asks innocently, turning to face him. "Was it anything we should know about?"

"Not much, just some stuff about me moving in to his place tomorrow, nothing you should be worried about." he lies, not wanting her to worry more than he already knows she is.

The two of them are silent for a while, Sasuke looking at the ceiling again and Sakura looking through the rest of the books that had been in the bag.

"Sakura?" he asks, not moving his gaze from the spot on the ceiling.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?" she replies, looking at him again.

"Why were you so… cold, angry… back in that room we were in?" he asks. He had been playing that memory over and over again in his head and the Sakura that he had been spending time with these last couple of days was so different from the first impression he got from her in the interrogation room, foggy and pain filled the memory was.

"Oh, that…" she mumbles, dropping her face towards her lap. "I wasn't sure you'd actually remember that part or not. Well… the thing is, I hate doing interrogations. Tsunade-sama had me start working with Ibiki-sama a couple of years ago after I completed an information retrieval mission with such success that she thought I should go work with him in the interrogation squad."

She had started clenching her fists in her lap so hard that her knuckles were turning white. He couldn't see her eyes behind the curtain of hair that had covered them, but he could guess that they would be dark as she pulled out the memories.

"I've done 4 now, not including yours. The first 3 went ok, Ibiki-sama says that it's my innocent looks that draw out the true intentions of the people they put in there with me and… well, he also says it's because I'm a girl, for some reason that helps. But the fourth…" she says, starting to shake slightly with reactions to the memories that she had been trying so hard to forget.

"Please, I want to know." Sasuke soothes, placing a hand on her back.

"Kakashi-sensei was on his way back from a mission to Sunagakure to see the Kazekage when he was attacked and poisoned by a mist ninja. They got him to the hospital in time and a group of Konoha trackers were able to bring back the rouge nin. Tsunade-sama thought that I'd be alright with doing the interrogation on him so, I went in, kind of like how I did with you. It's all an act, see, one that is supposed to create dominance in the interaction. What I said is almost word for word from the interrogation manuals Ibiki-sama teaches from. But this guy wouldn't have any of it. He somehow knew that Kakashi was my old sensei and was able to keep control of the entire situation. I never could get the upper hand of the interrogation and I had to leave and send in someone else. I failed, and because I couldn't get control of him in the first place, we never did find out why he attacked Kakashi-sensei and were forced to let him go free."

There were tears running down her cheeks now, and he could hear her sniffling lightly. "So, when Tsunade gave me the assignment to do your interrogation, I was so afraid that I tried to hide under a mask of my training. I was pretending you were someone else and I couldn't bring myself to look at you directly. When I saw how beaten up you were, I almost ran from the room, screaming, but I had to force myself to stay and complete the assignment I had been given."

"Sakura I…"

"You don't have to say anything. I was a bitch, and even though Tsunade-shishou got, indirectly, the information she needed from you, I still feel like I failed. You were so hurt and when you passed out, I just cracked. I didn't know what to do and, well, I kind of knew that Ibiki-sama would yell at me for breaking character, so I dropped the interrogation and tried to help you. Ibiki told me afterwards that I am no longer allowed in the building because they can't trust me to keep my cool in there anymore."

"I… I don't know what to say." Sasuke says, trying to comfort her as much as he can. "But if you hated doing the interrogations so much, why are you upset about not being able to go in there anymore?"

"Because Tsunade-sama says I'll never be able to face my fear of them now. It'll always be a 'what if?' in the back of my mind." she admits, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. "I'm just glad that you're alright. I really do hope you forgive me for being such a bitch back there, I was just trying to do my job."

"Of course I forgive you." he says. "I was just wondering what had caused the change from then to now."

"Are you sure?" she sniffs, turning her emerald green eyes towards him. He can still see the glitter of the tears still in her eyes. "I don't want you to think I'm really like that…"

He then surprises her by pulling her towards himself and, wrapping both arms around her, pulls her into a hug that he hopes helps her to calm down. "I'm sure." he says, resting his chin on her shoulder as she turns her head so that her cheek is resting against his chest.

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun." she says, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"You're welcome."


	9. Chapter 9

*****Author's note*****

So sorry about the long time between updates, I dislocated my finger and was un-able to type for a week! I am all better now, and have finally finished the new chapter. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a filler chapter, Sasuke getting out of the hospital, and a bit of SasuSaku fluff at the end. :) Reviews are always good, and I love getting them! Enjoy Chapter 9!

*****

"Ready to go?"

Sasuke looked up from pulling on his nin-sandals to see Kakashi standing in the doorway. Sakura put down the final bag of his things on the other bed as Naruto came out of the small bathroom with another bag, this one with a few medications that Sasuke had to take with him and the few toiletries he had gotten from the nurse a couple of days ago.

"Yup, I think we've got everything, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura says, taking one last look around the room, trying to spot something that was going with them that wasn't already packed up.

"Alright troops, file out!" Kakashi says with a chuckle as he grabs the box next to the door that had Sasuke's clothing in it and turning back into the hallway. Naruto, taking his teacher's lead, picks up the 2 biggest bags and the other box and follows him into the hallway, looking back over his shoulder.

"Come on you two, let's get out of this damn place, I want to get this stuff over to Kakashi's place so we can go train!" he says, smiling widely. "I checked with the nurse and she says you should be alright to at least do a bit of light sparring and I'm dying to see if you've picked up any new moves, teme!"

"Naruto…" Sakura says, glaring at him, while picking up the other bags left in the room. "I really don't think that we should be pushing him into training so soon, right Sasuke-kun?"

"No, I want to get some exercise too, Sakura." Sasuke says, standing up and stretching his arms slowly over his head. "I've been stuck in this bed for way too long." He reaches over and takes one of the bags out of Sakura's hands and heads out the door and into the hallway, to see Naruto bouncing down the hallway. Sakura follows him out the door and leaves it open so that the nurses could see that they had left.

"Are you sure you should be sparring so soon, Sasuke-kun?" she says quietly, moving up to walk next to him. She really notices just how much taller than her he is now, actually walking on his own not crouched over a cane or someone's shoulders. She has look up quite a bit just to look at his eyes, still hidden behind a long curtain of his bangs. He had at least pulled the rest of his hair into a low ponytail at the nape of his neck, claiming that one of the first things he was going to do once he was out of the hospital was to get his hair cut. She kind of liked the look, with his hair all smoothed down and not sticking straight out in the back. After going through the bag of clothing in his room, they had found him another long sleeved shirt, deep red this time, with the Uchiha fan on the back in black and white, and a pair of loose pants for him to wear in his first actual appearance in the village, even though it was almost like a small parade to Kakashi's house, what with the 4 of them burdened with bags and boxes of his possessions. He looked very mature and Sakura was sure that he would have his normal crew of fan girls following him around within hours of his official return to Konoha. If Naruto and her were to be following him around for the foreseeable future, she was sure that they would get quite annoying very quickly.

"Hn…" he replies, not wanting to hear her reasons for why he shouldn't strain himself. "I'll be careful, I just want to actually do something other than sit or lay around all day."

"Ok…" she says, looking forward as they walk out the front doors of the hospital and turn towards the south end of the village where Kakashi's apartment building is. She sees that Naruto has caught up to Kakashi and the two of them were talking, Naruto was probably picking his brain for more information on the ANBU exam. Sasuke and Sakura continue following them, not saying anything to each other.

As they continue walking, she hears whispered comments coming from the people along their path.

"Oh my god, is that the Uchiha boy?"

"It really is him, he has come back!"

"What is he doing back here, hasn't he done enough damage to this village?"

"Aaa! He's so cute! What is he doing with HER?"

'There's one' Sakura thinks to herself, starting her mental tally of fan girls to keep an eye out for. She smiles lightly as they continue walking towards their goal, now seeing the brick building that held their target looming up on their right hand side. Kakashi and Naruto had stopped outside the main entrance and were both looking at them.

"Hurry up, slowpokes!" Naruto calls out, still smiling. "I wanna go train!"

"We're coming, dobe." Sasuke replies, not changing his pace at all. Sakura giggles quietly and shifts her hold on the bag she is still carrying.

They reach the apartment and Kakashi hands Sasuke a key, saying that as long as he is with either Sakura or Naruto, he is free to come and go as he pleases. Kakashi points down the hallway and they put the bags and boxes in the spare bedroom which had, indeed, been freshly cleaned out and had a small bed on the far wall under the window, a desk and bookshelf on another wall, and a closet on the third. There was nothing on the walls or on the desk or bookshelf, so, after Kakashi says he has to go out for a bit, the three team mates spend an hour or so unpacking the bags and boxes and putting things away.

"Teme, are you done organizing, I'm hungry." Naruto complains, as his stomach growls convincingly. Sakura giggles and realizes that she too is hungry.

"Yeah, Sasuke-kun, let's go. You can finish putting things away later." she says, putting the final book from her bag on the bookshelf.

"Hn, alright." Sasuke replies, looking at the two of them. "Any ideas for what we want to eat?"

Sakura groans and hits her forehead with her palm. "You had to ask?" she says.

"ICHIRAKU!!!" Naruto yells, pumping his fist into the air. "IT'S RAMEN TIME!!!"

"Oh…"

*****

Later that Afternoon

*****

"Well, that was fun!" Naruto says, sliding his back down the tree he had been leaning against until he plunked down on his bottom at the base of the tree. He wipes his forehead on the sleeve of his jacket, which he had taken off and had tied around his waist. Sakura hands him a bottle of water and he drinks half of it in one go. The other half is quickly dumped over his head, causing his hair to hang wetly into this face.

"Hn." Sasuke replies, sitting on a small bench on the edge of the training grounds they had claimed after lunch. He had taken off his shirt, leaving only a sleeveless white tank top, and fanned himself with the sleeve of said shirt. Sakura smiles and silently hands him the other bottle of water she had brought with her from the ramen stand. He takes it from her and mumbles a "thanks" as he also drinks half of his. He screws the cap back on and places it on the bench next to him.

"Are the two of you alright, is there anything I can heal up for you?" Sakura says, looking at Sasuke's arms. He had a couple of scratches but nothing serious that she could see.

"Nothing over here, Sakura-chan." Naruto says, pointing at his chest. "That's one thing you never have to worry about with me."

"I don't think so." Sasuke agrees. "The dobe there isn't fast enough to actually do any damage to me, freshly discharged from the hospital or not."

"Hey!" Naruto exclaims, throwing his empty water bottle at him. Saskue darts out his hand and catches the bottle before it can hit him.

"Naruto, don't throw things" Sakura says, taking the bottle from Sasuke and putting it in her bag. "I think you both looked really good out there. You have lost a lot of muscle Sasuke-kun, but you're still fast as ever."

"Hn." Sasuke replies, pulling his shirt back over his head. "I think I should be getting back to Kakashi's place. Who's coming with me?"

"I am, Sasuke-kun." Sakura says, swinging her bag over her shoulder. She points at Naruto and continues. "Naruto is going on a mission tomorrow morning with Kiba and Shikamaru so he needs to get some rest, so I'm staying with you tonight and tomorrow."

"Oh yeah! Thanks for reminding me, Sakura-chan!" Naruto says, jumping to his feet. "I have to go meet up with them tonight to go over the details! I'll see you guys later!" he says, taking off towards the hill on the other side of the village where Shikamaru is often found cloud-gazing.

"Well, I guess that just leaves you and me then." Sakura says, smiling at Sasuke again. "What do you want to do now?"

"Can we just… go for a walk or something?" Sasuke says, standing up and looking towards the river. "I just… don't want to go inside so soon."

"Ok, Sasuke-kun." Sakura says, as they both turn and start walking down the pathway away from the training grounds and towards the river. They walk next to each other, not touching and not saying anything, but just being grateful for each other's presence. She looks down towards her feet and he notices that she is being unusually quiet for once.

"What's the matter?" he asks quietly as they walk past an elderly couple walking in the other direction up the river.

"N… nothing!" she stutters, looking at him with a small smile. "I'm just glad you're out of the hospital finally."

"Are you sure there's nothing else." he says, stopping and turning her shoulders so that she is looking directly at him.

"We… well, there is one thing…" she says, blushing lightly. "Are you… ok with me looking after you? I mean, you always thought I was, well, you know… annoying."

"Have I said once since I woke up that I thought you were annoying?" he asks. "I didn't have a problem with you in the hospital, so why would I have a problem with you now?"

"I don't know…" she says, turning her face away, still blushing madly. "You just never liked spending time with me before… before you left, and I thought you were just tolerating me in the hospital and would leave if you had the choice."

"Sakura…" he says, turning her face back towards his. "I don't think you are annoying… anymore. You have grown so much from back then and I would consider it an honour to be looked after by someone as talented and smart as you."

"Really?" she says, smiling at him. "You don't think I'm annoying?"

"No, not at all." he says grinning. "Well, maybe a bit." She stutters a bit and then punches him lightly on the arm. "But you wouldn't be Sakura if you weren't a bit annoying." he says, holding his thumb and forefinger a very small distance apart, implying just how little a bit annoying she was.

"Sasuke-kun…" she says, laughing. "Ok, I guess I can be a bit annoying, but if you say it's ok, then I guess I don't have to worry about it."

"Just… be yourself, Sakura." Sasuke says, grinning at her before turning and continuing down the path. She continues to stand there for a second before running up to walk next to him again. "You don't have to be anyone or anything other than yourself." he continues, reaching out for her hand and grabbing it, giving it a small squeeze. "And besides, when can I spend time with a girl and not have her flinging herself at me?"

She giggles in response and squeezes his hand back. "By the way, the fan club is re-forming, we may have to find some escape routes for you wherever we go now." she says, seeing another girl blush and run away squealing as they walked past her and giggling again.

"Really, crap…" he says sarcastically. "Well, maybe seeing you around me so much will scare some of them off."

They both look at each other for a second before she starts laughing and he chuckles at his own expense.

"We can only hope." she says, as they continue walking along the river hand in hand.


	10. Chapter 10

*****Author's note*****

Woot! 2 updates in 2 days! I got most of this one finished last night after Chapter 9 but I wanted to go over it once more when I got home from work. Well, all done, and ready to go. A bit more filler, I promise that there is some action in the next chapter. I've been dying to actually write a fight scene so we'll see how it goes! Enjoy!

*****

Two Weeks Later

*****

"Argh!" Naruto yells out at the blue, cloudless sky. He and Sakura had just finished the written part of the ANBU entrance exam and were leaving the pale grey building that was located just off of the Hokage's office at the base of the monument. Sakura had been completely silent from the time that the exam had started and had yet to say anything even after they had handed in their papers.

"That was the most difficult thing I have EVER done, Sakura-chan." he complains, following her as she turns towards the training grounds. Kakashi had been watching Sasuke today and had mentioned that they were going to train a bit while the two of them were sitting their exam, and that they should join them afterwards to take over watching their friend, Kakashi had a mission that afternoon. For the past two weeks, they had been training together with Kakashi working with the three of them, helping Sasuke regain his strength and walking Sakura and Naruto through the basic requirements for an ANBU. Naruto had been so tired at the end of it that he could barely keep his eyes open in the evenings when Sakura drilled him on the material they would need to know for the written test.

"Are you going to say anything?" he asks, starting to get frustrated at her silence.

"Maybe…" she says, looking towards him angrily. "Aren't you worried about how you did, Naruto?"

"Not really, if I pass then I pass, if I failed, then so be it, I'll take the test again." he says, shrugging his shoulders. "I studied as hard as I could, I honestly don't think I could have done any better."

"Mmhm." she mumbles, turning her head towards the training grounds which were quickly coming into view. She thought she could see a flash of black from the far corner of the grounds, followed by a flash of silver, but it could have been a trick of the light. As they come up to the edge of the field, she can see a small pile of things on a bench under a nearby tree. One of the items is Kakashi's vest and another is a large blue blanket that Sasuke usually had on his bed, and they both seemed to be covering what looked like a large box.

"Kakashi-sensei! Teme! We're here!" Naruto calls out, not seeing anyone on the field. He steps across the line cut into the grass that depicted the edge of the field and continues calling out. "Teme, where are you guys? Kaka- ARGH!"

Kakashi had appeared right in front of him, crinkling both eyes at him in a grin, having pulled his headband up to expose his lone Sharingan, and had surprised Naruto into stumbling back a couple of steps and yelling out.

"DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP DOING THAT?" Naruto yells at him, advancing towards his teacher with both hands planted on his hips.

"If you are ever going to be an ANBU, you have to expect anything at anytime, Naruto." Kakashi explains, pulling his headband back over his left eye and patting Naruto on the shoulder. "You have to start using your chakra to scan the area for all other sources of chakra to prevent being snuck up on."

Sakura was standing back at the side of the training field bent over in laughter. Naruto turns around and pouts at her. "Sakura-chan, did you know he was going to do that?" he whines at her.

"It was so easy to sense him coming, you dolt!" she laughs, holding onto her side with one hand. "Oh my god, you should have seen your face!"

"Hn…"

Sakura turns around to see Sasuke standing behind her, both eyes a blood red and his hair still pulled back into that low ponytail he had been sporting lately. He had refrained from cutting his hair after Sakura told him that it made him look older and that it suited his personality. Inside, he thought that he looked a bit like his brother had, but hadn't said anything to anyone else, and he had been getting used to not having his hair blowing in his face while he was training. He was dressed in a sleeveless black top and black shorts, he almost looked like a shadow.

"We're done! How is training going?" she says, catching her breath from laughing so hard. He looks at her for a second before blinking, his eyes returning to their usual onyx color, and grinning at her.

"How did you do?" he asks, ignoring her question and wiping his forehead with a small towel he pulled out of his back pocket. "Do you think you passed?"

"Well, I think I did alright, but I really don't know." she says, worry crossing her face. "I really hope I did well, I don't want to have to sit the test again like Ino-pig had to."

"If you think you did fine, you probably aced it Sakura, you used to say the same thing at the academy and you always had perfect marks." he says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't have to worry about coming in second place to Ino."

"Thanks, Sasuke-kun." Sakura replies, smiling at him.

"Oi, teme!" Naruto calls, coming over to stand next to Sakura as Kakashi made his way towards the bench. "What were you and Kakashi working on that he needed his Sharingan for?"

"Well, we were working on adapting the chidori to penetrate wind style jutsu." Sasuke explains, motioning them to follow him towards the bench. "It's our weak spot and we wanted to work some things out before asking you to try one of your wind jutsu's on it."

"Teme, the only one that I've been able to master is the Rasen-shuriken, and I sure as hell am not throwing it at you guys." Naruto says, putting his hands behind his head. "I've tried working on other wind jutsus but there is no one else in the village that is really good at them since Asuma-sensei is gone. Reading about them in books just isn't the same."

"I didn't mean now, dobe, we're still working on it." Sasuke snaps, sitting down on the bench. Kakashi had picked up his vest and put it back on before walking away with a wave to his students, but the blanket was still covering the mysterious box.

"Um, Sasuke, what's in the box?" Sakura asks, pointing at it. "I didn't see you with it this morning."

"Oh…" Sasuke says, standing up. He reaches out and pulls the blanket off, tossing it over the back of the bench. "Kakashi mentioned that when you guys become ANBU that they'd try and force you guys into the official uniform and I thought that you wouldn't like that idea." He reaches over and opens the box, pulling out an armful of fabric, placing it on the bench. Picking up the first item, he shakes it out and holds it towards Naruto. "Kakashi said that your father used to wear something like this." It was a knee length vest in a pale orange with red flames sewn along the bottom hem and on the back was the swirl pattern that Naruto had sported since he became a ninja all those years ago. Along with the vest went a plain fitted orange shirt and a pair of black cargo pants. "And I had Ino pick out some things for you, Sakura." he says, after handing Naruto's outfit to him and turning back to the pile of clothing. He picks up a dark red wrap shirt which bore a similarity to Tsunade's shirt but was trimmed in white that had the Haruto circle on the back and had a wide, white belt to go around the middle. Next was a tight long sleeved black shirt to wear underneath and was completed with a pair of tight black shorts and a black split skirt. "I have had nothing to do what with you guys studying all the time so I needed something to keep myself occupied with."

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura stutters, taking the outfit from him. "This is so thoughtful of you."

"Teme, this seems like a peace offering…" Naruto says, grinning at his friend.

"Hn…" Sasuke replies, turning back to the box and pulling out matching weapons pouches and a medical bag for Sakura. "Kakashi did all of the shopping, but I picked out the weapons and the final designs and the money came from my own account. I needed some way to thank you guys for putting up with me these last two weeks."

"You didn't have to do that, Sasuke-kun." Sakura protests, looking at him worriedly. "Do you think you have to pay us back for doing this? You don't, we're doing this because we want to, not just because Tsunade told us we had to."

"Yeah, teme. You think we hate spending time with you or something?" Naruto says, rolling his eyes. "You were gone for 10 years and we still have a lot to catch up on."

"Besides, once the trial is over, we don't know what's going to happen to you." Sakura adds, looking at him worriedly. "We want to spend as much time as we can with you."

"Hn."

"Look, we love the outfits, and of course we'll wear them, right Naruto?" Sakura says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Right, it'll be nice to have a new outfit for the first time in a while!" Naruto agrees, pulling off his jacket and putting on the new vest. The mesh shirt that he had been wearing went well with the vest in Sakura's opinion and Sasuke smirked at him.

"Nice shirt, dobe." Sasuke comments, pointing at the rip in the neckline. "Isn't that from last week?" Sasuke had grabbed Naruto by the shirt while they had been sparring and the shirt had torn when Naruto twisted free of his grip.

"Oh, I forgot that this one was ripped!" Naruto chuckles, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura stifles a giggle as she runs her hand down the front of the shirt, feeling the fabric slide under her hands like silk.

"It won't get caught on anything and it repels stains, Ino told me." Saskue mentions, running a finger along the edge of the folded garments. "Top of the line in ninja wear, apparently. I don't know much about clothing and stuff like that."

"It's beautiful, Sasuke-kun." she whispers, looking at him and smiling. "I'm going to put it on as soon as we get back to Kakashi's place to see how it fits."

"And you'll have to wear it at the physical evaluation to see how it performs too." Sasuke adds, pointing at the pockets along the inside of the skirt and in the wrap portion of the shirt. "Those should be perfect for small scrolls and senbon, no?"

"Of course." she agrees. "I just hope we actually make it to the physical evaluations."

"Heh, teme, we're going to have to get you some new threads then, or you'll end up looking like crap next to the two of us!" Naruto teases, only having to turn and run as Sasuke charged at him. They ended up chasing each other around the field a couple of times as Sakura laughs at them.

*****

That night

*****

The 3 team mates were sitting on the balcony of Kakashi's apartment, taking the opportunity to be alone for a while, talking about the exam that morning when there was a knock at the door. Sakura, being the closest, ran to open the door and see who their visitor was.

"Shikamaru!" she exclaims, causing the other two to get up and move into the main room of the apartment to greet their visitor. Sure enough, the now jonin Shikamaru was standing there with a grin on his face and two small scrolls in his hands.

"I have your test results from the ANBU office, you two." he says to Naruto and Sakura. He hands over the scrolls to their respective owners. Sasuke notices that they are both the same thickness so they both must have received the same result. They both break the seals that held the scrolls closed and unwrap them, and Sasuke watches Sakura as her eyes quickly scan the contents, knowing she was the quicker reader. A slow smile stretched across her face as she finished.

"I… I passed!" she says, shocked. "I PASSED!"

She flings her arms around Sasuke and hugs him tightly as he stands there in shock at her actions. He looks at Naruto and sees him smile widely as well.

"Oh my god, so did I!" Naruto says, pumping his fists into the air. "I actually passed!"

"Congratulations you two!" Shikamaru says from the doorway, still smiling at them. From the look on his face, he must have known the results already. He clears his thought quietly and they all look at him. "I am also here to tell you that your physical evaluation will be held in 3 days, and that you will have to report to the ANBU office at 10am on that day, fully armed and outfitted as if you were to go on a mission."

"Thanks, Shikamaru." Naruto says as Sakura pulls away from Sasuke and grins at him.

"Yeah, thanks Shikamaru. This is great news!" Sakura agrees.

"Well, I'll be seeing you around guys." Shikamaru says before turning around with a wave and heading out of the building.

"Well, teme, what do you think of THAT?" Naruto says, pointing at his grade on the scroll still clutched in his hand. "Apparently I only got 3 wrong!"

"Hn." Sasuke replies, looking at the floor.

"What's the matter, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks, now worried.

"If you guys are almost done the ANBU exams, then that means that my trial can't be much further away." he mumbles, looking back at Sakura.

"Oh, that." she replies, reaching up and pushing some of his loose hair behind his shoulder. "Don't worry, everything is going to be ok. Right, Naruto?"

"Right, like I keep saying, we won't let you get pushed around by a bunch of old geezers." Naruto agrees, slapping Sasuke's back, causing him to stumble forward a step.

Sasuke was still worried though, despite his friend's enthusiasm. There still hadn't been any problems from the people that Kakashi had mentioned in the hospital, but he still thought that the reason was that not enough people knew exactly where he was staying and he had been laying low publicly as well. The longer hair and constant changes of wardrobe were certainly helping, even the fan girls weren't able to keep track of him that easily. He still hadn't told them about the possibility of attack and didn't plan on telling them either. Assuming that as ANBU they would have the same clearance as Kakashi, they would be finding out soon enough anyways. In his opinion, some kind of action against him was long overdue, and people may just be waiting for them to drop their guard.

"If you say so." Sasuke agrees, trying to pull himself out of the pit of worry that had been dominating his thoughts.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Naruto says, ushering the other two back towards their previous spots. "It's time to celebrate!" Pushing Sasuke and Sakura into their chairs on the balcony, he darts into the kitchen and comes back out with a bottle of sake and 3 small glasses. Pouring each of them a glass and passing them around, he raises his glass to the sky.

"Banzai!" he cries before draining his glass in one gulp.

Sasuke looks at Sakura and she smiles at him, raising her glass as well. He follows suit and they both reply before downing their glasses as well.

"Banzai!"


	11. Chapter 11

The next morning Sakura was no where to be seen when Naruto knocked on Kakashi's door to pick Sasuke up for training. Sasuke opened the door, still eating his breakfast, when he asked his blonde team mate where their third member was.

"Sakura-chan has an appointment with Tsunade-baa-chan this morning to go over some things about using her medical ninjutsu in the ANBU test." Naruto says, sitting down at the table, stealing one of Sasuke's rice balls and stuffing it into his mouth. Sasuke glared at him as he closed the door but didn't say anything about it.

"What did you have planned for today, dobe?" Sasuke asks, returning to the table and finishing off the last of his rice balls before walking across the small kitchen and placing his plate in the sink.

"Training." Naruto says simply, putting both hands palm down on the table. "I need to get used to this whole 'be stealthy and quick' thing for the test and, well, you know me, I'm more of the 'barge in with a lot of noise' type."

"Hn… you got that right." Sasuke smirks, looking over his shoulder at Naruto, who sticks his tongue at him.

"Haha, very funny teme."

"Whatever."

Sasuke walks over to the small couch and picks up a light jacket which had been tossed across the arm and slips it on. He walks over to the door and opens it, motioning for Naruto to leave first.

"Well, what are you waiting for, tomorrow?" Sasuke says impatiently, wanting to be outside as soon as possible.

"Bet you I can reach the training grounds first, teme!" Naruto says, with the glint of a challenge in his eyes.

"Bet you that you can't." Sasuke replies, grinning.

"ReadysetGO!" Naruto yells, darting out the door and running down the hallway. Sasuke chuckles lightly and, locking the door behind him, darts down the hallway and out the door. When he gets onto the street he looks both ways and sees no sign of Naruto. Rolling his eyes, he jumps onto the top of the building and takes off towards the training grounds.

*****

"That's him, right?"

"Yeah, the dark haired one."

"Where's his 'keepers'?"

"Didn't you see the blonde one leave just a moment ago? The older one has been gone all morning and I haven't seen the girl at all."

"Perfect, call in the boys, it's time to act."

The two shadows that had been hiding on top of the building across the street quickly disappeared in opposite directions, knowing that they had not been noticed.

*****

'Where the heck did he get to now?' Sasuke thinks to himself as he arrives at the side of the training field. He had seen no sign of the blonde ever since he had disappeared out the door and he usually caught up to him within moments of getting to the field. Either that or Naruto pounces on him in mid-jump, causing them both to usually crash into something. 'Probably hiding somewhere so he can jump out and try to scare me, heh.'

Sasuke starts walking around the perimeter of the field when he senses four alien chakras coming in from all directions towards him. Crouching into a defensive stance, he pulls out a kunai from the pouch on his thigh and blinks his Sharingan active. Sure enough, seconds later four men land on the grass of the training grounds, one to each direction, surrounding him.

"Well, if it isn't the traitor." the one to his right taunts, flipping his long brown hair back over his shoulder. All four of them were wearing all black with no clan markings or ninja headbands at all. They all were armed though, two of them with katanas and the other two holding kunai and shuriken respectively.

"Yeah, and all by his lonesome, too!" the one on his left adds, shrugging his shoulders and smiling sarcastically. "It's too bad the blonde didn't put up more of a fight, right Tanoa?"

"Mmhm." the dark one standing behind him agreed, chuckling under his breath. "The brat was most un-cooperative, but once you nailed him with that sleeping jutsu, he was out like a light."

The four men all start laughing as Sasuke continues to scan the field for Naruto. Out of the corner of his eye he catches a flash of blonde and notices that the men had indeed knocked him out and had tied him up in one of the trees on the far end of the field.

"What do you want with me?" Sasuke asks, looking directly at the one standing in front of him who had not yet said anything, and was just standing there with his katana balanced neatly in his hand and smirking at him.

"Isn't it obvious, we don't want you here anymore, traitor." he replies. He has short cropped black hair and piercing brown eyes, and Sasuke swears that he has seen him before. When the man grins at him and turns to look at the men standing to eather side of him, Sasuke notices the long scar running along his scalp and remembers seeing this man in the market place a few days before hand.

"You." Sasuke accuses. "You were in the market last week, you tried to get me to try out a new style of katana."

"Yes, that was me. My name is Kotan, and this is my brother Tanoa." he points to the man standing behind Sasuke. "And these two are Miku and Sanuko." the other two both smiled at him. "And between the four of us, we are going to make sure that you aren't physically able to re-join this village."

With that last remark, Sasuke has to dodge to the right as Tanoa throws a double handful of shuriken at him, narrowly missing his head. Using the Sharingan to read their movements, he dodges the frontal attacks from Kotan and Miku with the Katanas. Backing up towards the trees, the four men advance towards him, showing that they have no intentions of holding back.

"Sorry Uchiha, but you're not going to live to see that trial." Kotan taunts, brandishing his katana at him again. He surges forward, leaving his three comrades behind and engages Sasuke with a flurry of moves. Sasuke manages to block most of them with the kunai, but Kotan has the advantage with the longer weapon and soon parries the kunai from Sasuke's hand and raises the katana above his head, aiming for the final blow. Sasuke, noticing that the other three have closed in around him, leaving him no route of escape, and having no weapons left at his disposal other than his ocular jutsu that Kakashi had warned him against using until his trial, he was trapped. He was still not quite recovered enough to use much of his chakra so, having no other options, he lunges forward with his hands, focusing just enough chakra into them to cause his hands to crackle with electricity, hopefully enough to stun him.

"Back off!" he yells as he hits him square in the face with both hands. Kotan screams as he feels the current pass through his face and sear his skin. The other three men close in on him, using Sasuke's forward momentum against him and aim for his exposed back.

"Haha, we've got you now!" Tanoa yells out.

"Oh no you don't!"

Suddenly, the three men all stop dead in their tracks before falling backwards away from Sasuke. Pulling his hands off of Kotan's face, allowing him to also fall backwards, holding his face and moaning in pain, Sasuke looks up to see Sakura standing in the tree above him with one hand extended with her other full of medical senbon needles.

"Sakura." he gasps as he drops his singed hands to his sides and she jumps down from her perch in the tree, landing next to him.

"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun? Who are these guys?" she asks, looking at the three men that were neutralized with her careful throws of the senbon needles, each man sporting a single senbon in the center of his chest. Sasuke noticed that they were still breathing, so Sakura must have hit a pressure point that caused unconsciousness instead of death.

"I don't know." Sasuke says, moving to stand over the man that was still awake and rolling around on the ground. "This one is the leader though."

"I've got backup coming right now, Sasuke-kun." Sakura says, flicking her wrist lightly causing one last senbon to appear, this time in the center of Kotan's chest, causing him to go limp as well. "Did they hurt you?" she asks, looking at him worriedly. Other than some dirt and dust on his clothing and in his hair, there didn't seem to be any damage done to him that she could see.

"Naruto." Sasuke says, pointing to the tree, seeing the blonde sit up suddenly, looking around angrilly. With the caster of the sleep jutsu unconscious, he had woken up.

"WHERE ARE THEY? I'LL KILL THE LOT OF THOSE LOW LIFE BAS-"

"Naruto!" Sakura calls, running over to the tree with Sasuke following behind her. She quickly jumps up into the tree next to him and, with another flick of her wrist, had produced a small kunai knife and had slit the rope holding Naruto's arms tight to his sides.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" Naruto yells, frustrated at his lapse.

"They ambushed you dobe and then tried to take me out." Sasuke says mildly. "You were apparently under some sort of sleep jutsu the big dark one set on you."

"I just remember landing in the field, turning around to gloat at you for taking so long when everything went black." Naruto says, hanging his head. "Some kind of ANBU I'm going to be…"

"Naruto, these guys look like they've been planning this for a while now." Sakura soothes, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The real question is, why were you getting to the training field without Sasuke?"

"Hn…"

Sakura looks down to where Sasuke was still standing, holding his burnt hands and looking guilty.

"We were racing, Sakura-chan." Naruto admits, looking just as guilty as Sasuke. "I bet teme that I could make it to the training grounds first and left him behind."

"Naruto, we're not supposed to leave Sasuke alone." Sakura says, rolling her eyes. "I know that the official reason is so that he doesn't 'escape' before his trial, but it's also to watch out for people like this."

"Wait, Sakura, how did you know that someone might be after me?" Sasuke asks as they both drop out of the tree to stand in front of him.

"I read Tsunade's report the day before you got out of the hospital. I assume that's what Kakashi actually was talking to you about that day, right?" She replies, holding out her hands towards him as she notices him cringing slightly and not moving his arms much. He sighs and places his burnt hands in hers and, feeling the slow tingle of her healing chakra moving through them, the pain recedes and the burns slowly fade until his hands look and feel normal..

"Why didn't you tell me, Sakura-chan?" Naruto whines, looking over at the men still laying on the ground. "I would have been more careful."

"I thought that you were taking this mission serious enough without knowing that there may be people trying to ambush Sasuke-kun." she replies, releasing the jutsu and letting Sasuke have his hands back.

"I guess." Naruto mumbles.

"Haruno-san."

They turn around to see three ANBU walking towards them, wearing their masks and everything. The ninja in the lead nods his head towards the four unconscious men and snorts.

"Is that them?" he asks, pointing the other two to go gather up the ambushers.

"Yeah, I'm not sure who they are so you'll have to take them to the interrogators." she replies.

"Well, I can already tell you that the leader and his brother are the leaders of the weapons guild here in Konoha and the one with the long hair is one of the civilian correspondents to the Hokage. The other one looks like he is a relative of the last one but I haven't seen him around before." the ANBU explains, pulling out a small black book from an inner pocket of his vest. "The first three are in the list of people to watch out for in this case that Tsunade-sama gave the ANBU guards."

"Well, if you guys want to take care of them, we're going to take Sasuke back to Kakashi's and wait there until someone contacts us with more information on the attack." Sakura finishes, grabbing hold of Sasuke and Naruto's arms and pulling them towards the road.

"Of course, Haruno-san." he agrees, saluting. "We will be in contact soon."

The three continue to walk down the road, Sakura still walking between the two guys with her hands still firmly holding onto their arms, not saying anything. As they turn the final corner and see the apartment building ahead of them, Naruto lets out a breath in one long sigh.

"If that is what being an ANBU is all about, then I'm not quite sure I'm cut out for this." he confesses, looking ashamed.

"You have nothing to worry about, dobe." Sasuke says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his key. They all go into the apartment and Sasuke locks the door behind them and moves around the room making sure all of the windows were closed and then shutting all of the blinds, leaving the room in mostly darkness. Naruto sits down on the floor with a thud and Sakura perches on the edge of the couch, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Sasuke sits next to her on the couch.

"Well, now that they've made their intentions known, we know who to keep an eye out for, right?" Sasuke says quietly, breaking the silence.

"I guess, but we still don't know how much longer we have to wait before your trial, Sasuke-kun." Sakura says, sighing loudly. "This could just keep happening until the trial comes around."

"Then we deal, right dobe?" Sasuke says, shrugging.

"I guess." Naruto agrees. "I just have to pay more attention."

"Well, there goes out plans for training today, huh?" Sakura says, sitting back in the couch and pulling her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees.

"Whatever, we deserve a day off, right?" Naruto says, laying back on the floor. "We spent so much time studying these last couple of weeks, we still haven't had a chance to tell teme what has been going on while he was away."

"Alright, we'll take the rest of the day off, but we really have to train tomorrow, Naruto. We only have 2 more days until the physical portion of the ANBU exam." Sakura says, smiling at Naruto laying on the floor. "So, who do you want to hear the gossip on first, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn… you pick." Sasuke says, reclining up against the side of the couch, a small smile on his lips despite the attack. "We have all afternoon to kill."

*****


	12. Chapter 12

*****Author's Note*****

Woot! Another update! More action in this chapter, and the finale of the ANBU exams! Starting next chapter we will finally see what Sasuke will have to go through with his trail and punishments, so stay tuned! Keep the reviews coming and I'll see what I can do about updating faster. I have a busy weekend and I have been fighting off a bit of a cold, so it may be a while, but reviews are always a good way to make me feel better! Also, many thanks to C.A.M.E.O.1 and Only for offering to draw the main characters from my story in their new outfits (Naruto and Sakura's outfits that I described in Chapter 10 and Sasuke's, who's has yet to be unveiled!), I am so excited to see how it turns out! Thank you thank you thank you! And now, on with the story!

*****

Physical Exam Day

*****

"Sakura, look out!"

Turning towards the sound of her comrade's voice, Sakura sees another hooded ANBU hurtling through the trees towards her, shaping his hands for a doton jutsu. Pushing off of the branch she had been perched on towards the next tree, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a handful of senbon, lacing one between each finger of her right hand. Sensing her pursuer directly behind her, she charges each long needle with a touch of suiton chakra and flings them behind her without looking. Heeding the rules of the exam, she didn't aim high enough to hit any of the vital spots, only high enough to maybe take out a knee or thigh. Hearing a muffled thud and a groan, she grabs an overhanging branch and spins around, looking for the ANBU. She sees him crouched over on a branch a couple trees behind her, pulling three of the four senbon she had thrown out of his left thigh. Looking towards her with his(her) hooded and masked face, he(she) makes a one handed sign, signalling that he(she) was down. Sakura grins to herself, spins around, and heads for the meet up point that she and Naruto had agreed on before the test began.

When they had reported to the ANBU office that morning, leaving Sasuke under the watchful eye of Kakashi (who said something about fixing a congratulations dinner for the two of them, leaving Sasuke to roll his eyes with boredom), they had been presented with a detailed map of a training ground that neither of them had ever known existed before, training ground 99. Similar to most of the other contained training grounds, it was circular shaped, surrounded by a 15 foot high chakra fence. However, this one was divided into 5 zones, like a pie, with each zone being based off of the five main chakra forms, earth, water, wind, fire, and electricity. Sakura had quickly committed the map to memory as Naruto finished securing the necessary survival tools that they had been presented with by the exam officers to his chest and legs. Having already completed arming herself, the lead officer told them about the exam.

They would enter the training grounds form a point on the south end, directly in the middle of the fire zone. She noted that this area was completely devoid of anything that could be used for cover, and was covered in small pits filled with chakra maintained fire. The officer informed them that each zone was patrolled by two senior ANBU examiners. Their job was to get past both of them, having them both submit by using non lethal methods, until the examiners give them a hand sign, signalling their defeat, and advance to the next zone. The difficult part was that the ANBU in each zone were masters of jutsu's based off of the zone's nature, starting with Katon. Apparently being able to adapt to one's surroundings and being able to counter all five kinds of jutsu was the main aspect of the test. Starting from the fire zone, they were expected to move counter clockwise around the zones in order, from fire onwards to water, wind, earth, and finishing with lightning. Only once all five zones had been cleared would they be able to leave the training ground and pass the test.

So, here she was, in the fourth of the five zones, this one dedicated to doton, earth jutsu. The one good part of this zone was that it was almost exactly the same as the majority of the training areas in Konoha, being covered in humongous trees with almost no space left between them. With most of her jutsu's being suiton or water type jutsu, she was afraid that she would be out matched in this zone, but she found that because her chakra control was so delicate and perfected, that her suiton infused senbon were enough to penetrate the doton of the examiner that had come after her just after they had entered this zone. The one that had taken after Naruto was quite a bit bigger than hers, but because his primary jutsu's weren't dependant on a change in chakra nature, he had been doing fine so far into the test. If Naruto managed to get through this zone, the last one was going to be a piece of cake, being the lightning area. If she remembered the map correctly, there was a chakra induced thunder storm over the area with large rock outcroppings that had been laced with metal alloys to attract lightning. But, with Naruto and his wind style jutsu, the Rasen-shuriken, they should be able to pass the final zone with no problems. With Naruto now being able to throw his signature jutsu when in sage mode, he could make sure that it would not directly hit the examiners, preventing disqualification, but still be able to counter any lightning jutsu's they may throw at them. Then, at long last, the exam would be over, with them having been going for almost 6 hours now without a rest.

Coming up on the point that they had chosen, the exact center of the circular training grounds, where all five zones met, she sees her orange and white clad friend leaning against the signpost depicting where the zone boundaries were. He had a huge grin across his face and the only sign of how long his infraction in this zone went on for was a bit of dirt smudged across his face. Giggling at him, she slips her gloves off of her hands so that she can run her healing chakra along his arms, checking for any damage he might have sustained. Knowing the damage that his Rasen-shuriken could do to the chakra cells in his arms, she wanted to make sure that he was in as good of condition that he can be before advancing to the final zone.

"Sakura-chan, that tickles." he gasps out between laughing outright. "What on earth are you doing?"

"Making sure you're ok to use your wind style jutsu." she says, smacking the side of his head with her free hand. "The last zone is lightning and you have the advantage if you use it."

"Ah." he says, rubbing the spot that she had smacked.

"There, all done. Do you want to leave your clones here for sage mode?" she says, pulling her gloves back on and re-stocking her supply of senbon in her pocket from her medical bag on her hip.

"Sure, they should be ok here." Naruto replies, forming the simple hand signs and causing three more Narutos to appear in front of them. "You guys know what to do."

"Hai!" the three clones say, before dropping to the ground to sit cross legged and place their hands together, starting to collect sage chakra.

"Alright, let's go Sakura-chan." Naruto says, pointing towards the last zone.

They move forward, Naruto taking a point position ahead of Sakura, who had her weak chakra sensing abilities extended ahead and to the sides of them. The storm above them started to worsen and rain started to fall, causing their range of vision to be reduced. Naruto made a small motion and created another clone, sending the clone on ahead of him to check the area beyond.

"Where the heck are they?" Naruto mumbled, looking around. "The examiners usually jump on us as soon as we enter the zone."

"I don't know Naruto." Sakura replies, pulling her wet hair back out of her face and tucking it behind her ears.

Suddenly, two dark figures appear in front of them. Sakura had not even noticed their approach and Naruto's clone must have walked right past them.

"Welcome to the final zone, Naruto, Sakura." the figure on the right calls out, gesturing to them. The figure's voice sounded strange, as if they were using some kind of voice altering jutsu. "You have done well to advance this far on only your first attempt."

"Thank you, but can we just get on with this." Sakura replies sarcastically, crouching down into a defensive position and sensing Naruto do the same next to her. "I'm getting wet."

"Very well, as you wish… forehead." the figure replies, and Sakura finally recognizes the voice.

"Ino?"

The figure on the right chuckles and addresses the other examiner, revealing their identity as well. "I do believe they have identified us, I'm sure you can let your pet come out as well, dog boy."

"How many times do I have to ask you not to call him my pet?" the other figure replies, making a small beckoning motion with his hand, causing a large, white figure to come out from behind one of the rock outcroppings.

"Kiba?" Naruto says, trying not to sound so stunned. "Akamaru?"

"What are you two doing here?" Sakura asks, amazed. "How can you guys be examiners already, Ino, you only became ANBU a couple of years ago, and Kiba, you've only been ANBU for 10 months!"

"I know, but they decided that a good test for you two would to have you face some old friends at the end." Kiba replies, placing one gloved hand on the back of his canine friend and partner, who barked in agreement.

"So we are really expected to go up against you two?" Naruto yells over a crack of thunder from the storm above them. "What if you get hurt?"

"That's our problem to deal with Uzumaki." Ino replies, laughing at him. "We are ANBU." With that last comment, Ino jumps towards them, drawing a short katana from a sheath along her back and swinging it towards Sakura. Dodging to the side, Sakura pulls out a handful of shuriken from her leg pouch and throws them at the now exposed back of her closest friend, only to see her turn in mid-air and bat them away with her blade. Landing on one foot, she laughs out loud.

"Is that the best that you can do, forehead?" Ino taunts, dropping both arms to her sides. "I have learned a lot of new tricks since I passed this test myself, like this." Thrusting the sword she carried into the ground in front of her, she forms a series of hand seals before finishing with the tiger seal. "Raiton - Lightning Scepter!" With that, a bolt of lightning crashed down from the clouds above into the sword in front of her. Ino bends over and picks it up and Sakura is shocked to see that it no longer resembles the short katana it was just a second ago. It has almost doubled in length and crackles with electricity.

"One touch with this and you'll be knocked unconscious, forehead." Ino explains. "You'd better think fast."

Sakura turns around to see Naruto engaged with both Akamaru and a very feral looking Kiba, who had dropped onto all fours and had what looked like a ball of electricity covering the both of them. Deciding that the only way to get past their friends was to have Naruto ascend into sage mode and try to corner them before throwing a Rasen-shuriken at them to leach away the electricity that they were both using.

"Naruto, listen to me!" she calls, turning her attention back to Ino just in time to dodge again as Ino charged towards her with the lightning enhanced sword. "Attack plan D!"

"D? Sakura, have you gone mad?" Naruto calls back, calling up at least a dozen clones to create some kind of shield between him and his opponent. "These are our friends!"

"Do you want to pass this exam or not?" she yells back, throwing a couple more shuriken at Ino, only to watch in dismay as they explode upon contact with the katana.

"Alright, give me a second." he calls out, pulling back a couple of paces. He closes his eyes and releases the first of the three clones they had left behind and, when he opens his eyes again, they are rimmed with a dark red, signalling his ascension into sage mode. "Ok Sakura, go!"

Hearing the ok to move, Sakura starts to try and back Ino up against a large rock about thirty degrees to her left, the largest rock in the area that was about half way between the two examiners. She sees Naruto call up more clones to replace the defeated ones and starts to move Kiba and Akamaru towards the same rock. Smiling to herself, she aims a chakra filled punch into the ground to her right, causing the ground to splinter and shatter, causing Ino to stumble right in front of the rock they had chosen.

"Naruto, any time now!" Sakura calls out over another crack of thunder.

"10 more seconds." Naruto replies, two of his clones taking a run at the lightning shield and exploding on impact, but causing Kiba to stumble sideways into Akamaru's side. They both take a couple of steps towards Ino before regaining their balance.

"There, do it Naruto!" Sakura screams.

"Hai!"

Naruto calls in another of his sage chakra clones and two of the existing clones close in on either side of him, extending their hands. Sakura throws a simple smoke bomb in front of her, blinding their opponents for a couple of seconds, but that is all Naruto needs.

"Rasen-shuriken!" The smoke clears with the force of the wind-enhanced jutsu to clear a path directly between the two ANBU with just enough penetration force to leach away all of the electricity from both Ino's katana and Kiba's lightning shield. The projectile slams into the rock behind them and causes it to explode into a cloud of dust and debris. Naruto and Sakura throw their arms over their eyes to protect them from the flying rocks and, when they lower them, they see their two friends both kneeling on the ground gasping for air with exhaustion. Akamaru was standing over Kiba whimpering, and Ino's sword lay on the ground more than an arms length away from it's owner.

"Are you two ok?" Sakura calls out, once again crouching down into a defensive stance, not wanting to drop her guard if this was a trick.

"Yeah, we're fine." Kiba gasps out, laughing weakly. "I should have known that you might use your trump card, Naruto."

"Ugh, remind me to never get you mad at me." Ino agrees, sitting down on the wet, rocky ground. She looks at her fellow examiner and, with a slight nod, they both turn to their opponents and make the one handed sign that signalled their defeat.

"Congratulations, forehead, Naruto, you pass!"


	13. Discontinuation

Hey everyone,

Well, as my readers are sure to have noticed by now, I have kind of given up on Penalties. It's really hard to continue writing a redemption story for Sasuke when in the manga he really is starting to be a complete douschbag… pretty much right after I posted chapter 13 he really started pissing me off in the manga (and no, I'm not going to spoil what has been happening lately for all of you readers who do not read the manga) and I really started having problems with writing his character in my story after what happened.

So, unfortunately, I am going to abandon the story where it is. If you want to see what was supposed to happen, keep reading and I'll post the rest of my chapter progression, and a lemon (tee hee) that I had written as a later optional chapter. Other than that, I have a couple of other pieces that I have been working on, hopefully I can get them posted soon.

Thanks for sticking around!

UchihaCherryBlossoms

Chapter Progression - Penalties

After the attack, Sasuke attends his trial and is sentenced to probation (not to leave the village, no missions above D level), community services (provide all intelligence gained during his absence) and, duh duh duh, that if he wants to re-build his clan, that he is not allowed to run around sleeping with as many women as possible to breed children for him, that he had to decide on one woman and that he had to remain faithful to her for any children he may father to be considered true Uchiha clan members. He broods and broods over this until he finally realizes that the one girl who has actually stood by him for all these years and that actually cares for HIM and not just for who he is is Sakura. He tells her that she is the one he chooses and they get together (FINALLY…) Naruto is happy for this but soon realizes that he is really jealous, so he tries to find a way that he could still be a part of their "family". He tells Sasuke and Sakura that he doesn't want to be excluded any more and offers to be the god father of any children they have and that he would come live with them and care for the kids as if they were his own.

I initially wanted to turn this into a NaruSasuSaku (like Asuka Kureru's "Teamwork" stories, which are AWESOME btw, go read them!) but I could never work out the details before I gave up on the story. The story is pretty much over after that, I had a wedding chapter in the works but it just seemed really awkward and stuff.

Anywho, continue on to the next chapter if you want to read the lemon, it is based after Sasuke's confession to Sakura and was initially supposed to be an "optional" chapter that people could skip if they didn't want the lemony stuff.

Thanks again!


	14. The Lemon!

He looked into her eyes with such intensity that she felt he was able to read her very soul. She looked back at him, emerald eyes meeting onyx, and the connection between them was undeniable.

"Sakura, are you sure you want to do this?"

He held her eyes with his own as he took another step closer towards her, reaching out a hand to touch the side of her face with his calloused fingers. She bent her head so that he ended up cupping her cheek with his palm. Slowly she closed her eyes and brought her hand up to cover his on her face as she took a deep breath in.

"Yes."

Taking the final step towards her, they stood almost touching each other, he brings his other hand up to cup her other cheek and lightly press his lips to hers. Closing her eyes, she moans lightly against his mouth and he quickly deepens the kiss, moving his hands to the back of her head, pulling her closer and burying them in her soft pink hair. She places her hands on his chest as he slowly pulls away from her lips, only to continue pressing kisses along her jaw and down her neck to where it meets her shoulder. Smiling lightly, she tilts her head and he continues kissing his way back up her neck and back to her lips before pulling away. She opens her eyes to find him looking at her, their noses almost touching and his dark eyes filled with wonder.

"What, do I have something on my face?" she teases, trying to break the awkward silence that had popped up. He smiles and rubs his thumb across her cheek, making her lean into the touch again.

"No, it's just that I can't believe we're actually doing this. It just seems so… unreal, you know?" he whispers, looking into her eyes again, trying to find the words to say that wouldn't break the mood. "I never really imagined that you would ever forgive me enough to… give yourself to me like this."

"After the seeing the strength you've re-gained and the devotion you've shown me these last few months, and after seeing how many other girls have thrown themselves at you promising to help re-build your clan and watching you turn them down, I can't believe you'd still want to do this with me." she replies, her eyes shine with the smallest sign of tears.

"How could I be happy with anyone other than you?" he soothes, pressing a feather light kiss to the middle of her forehead. "You stood beside me when almost no one else would. Without you and Naruto, I don't think I could have made it through these last couple of months without giving up. You are the most beautiful woman in this whole village and I am so proud to have you stand beside me and help re-build my clan into something honourable."

The smile she graces him with is all the answer he needs. He presses against her, causing them both to take a couple steps towards the bed and, when her knees bump against the edge of it, she sits down, only to continue moving with him, crawling backwards now, until her head hits the pillows at the headboard. He stays right with her, now kneeling with one leg on either side of her hips and his hands holding him up are one on either side of her head. He lowers his head until he reaches her lips and locks them in a kiss, his lips slowly moving on hers.

She buries her hands in his dark hair and pulls him closer as she runs her tongue along the seam of his lips, causing him to open them and plunge his own tongue into her mouth. He moans into her mouth and she replies with a moan of her own. This was all she had ever imagined and more, because of his confession that he would only do this with her. She can slowly feel herself becoming warm and wet between her legs and she knows that he must notice the reactions he is causing her body to experience.

She feels him move his hands down to the hem of her shirt and gently starts pulling it upwards. She pulls away and looks him in the eyes again, smiling as she reaches down and, in one smooth movement, pulls her shirt over her head, revealing her tight black bra. Inside, she's glad she didn't wrap her stomach as she usually does with bandages, because they would have slowed things down immensely. Tossing her shirt away, he grins and captures her lips again as he starts unlacing his own shirt. The laces up the front of the shirt kept getting knotted under his fingers so he pulls away again, biting off a silent curse as he fumbles with the accursed ties. She giggles and places her fingers on his, guiding him through the worst of the knots and then helping him pull his own shirt off, revealing his muscled abs and chest, lightly covered with a fine net of scars that shone brightly in the moonlight coming in the window. She runs a finger down the center of his chest to his abdominals and back up again, tracing invisible patterns along the planes of the muscles. He trembles under her feather light touch and presses up against her, placing kisses along her chest down to her stomach. She giggles softly when he reaches a ticklish spot just above the hem of her skirt and he looks up at her grinning like a little kid before crawling back up to her face and silencing her with another powerful kiss.

He was becoming impatient now, he felt his arousal peaking and his manhood was pressing painfully against the fabric of his tight pants. He started moving his leg upwards against hers, trying to relieve some of the pressure when she realized what was happening. Pushing him gently away from her again, she reached between them down to where the drawstring was on his pants and, with her gentle fingers, untied it and pulled the waistband away from his stomach, releasing some of the tension that had been building for him down there. Smiling at her, he reached a hand behind her back and, faster than even she could do it herself, had unhooked her bra and was sliding it off of her, eventually tossing it to the side.

Looking down at her now exposed breasts, he smiled and cupped one in his calloused hand, causing her to gasp at the unfamiliar sensation.

"They're too small, aren't they?" she comments, pouting at him.

"Don't say that, I think they're perfect." he whispers in reply, noticing how she too sports a fine web of scars across her chest and stomach, just as he has. Maybe not as many, but he can still see that she must have been in serious pain from some of them, most of them being long and narrow, like the line of a blade or like lightning, many of them parallel to others.

"They didn't hurt." she comments, noticing the worry in his eyes. "Most of them are from patients at the hospital who are brought in distraught and lash out with nails and sometimes chakra. That's why I wear the bandages now, they can't do anything to me through those without really trying." she says, pouting again. She's really starting to feel aroused and he's just kneeling there looking at her.

"Hn…" he mumbles, still worried.

"Look, you have more than I do and you don't see me sitting here worrying about things that have already happened, do you?" she says. Lifting herself up onto her elbows, she continues to pout at him. "Please, we were in the middle of something?"

He doesn't answer but lowers his lips hungrily onto hers, pushing her back down onto the pillow. Cupping a breast with one hand, he rubs his thumb around one hardening pink nipple causing her to gasp with pleasure into his mouth. He is really starting to get aroused down there and now that his pants weren't causing him discomfort, he was really wanting to see how she felt wrapped along his length. Knowing that he would still have to wait a bit before that would happen he worked his mouth again down her chest and stomach but, this time, he slipped his fingers under the waistband of her skirt and pulled it down as he moved south. She shimmied her hips to help him and he soon had her skirt down to her ankles and, with a twist of his wrists, had tossed it towards their shirts on the floor. All that was left covering her now was a tight pair of black shorts that she wore underneath her skirt. He ran his fingers up the insides of her thighs, causing her to moan with pleasure again as he slowly hooked his fingers under the shorts and pulled them down. He slowly let his eyes travel south to be rewarded by the delicately curled pink hairs that covered her, and at last he could see all of her. She blushed slightly as he looked at her, letting the sight of her smooth skin and creamy curves brand themselves in his memory. And he would want to remember this night for the rest of his life. Lowering his head again, he began kissing his way from her stomach down and eventually reached those soft pink curls. He kept going and was soon kissing her pleasure spot, slowly darting his tongue out to taste her as he heard her moaning above him. She spread her legs out further so he could move his head between her legs and continue exploring her with his tongue and soon she was crying out in ecstasy as her first orgasm ripped through her body. He slowly licked up her juices, savouring the flavour on his tongue before crawling his way back up her body to look into her face, a light blush still coloring her cheeks and her lips swollen from her heavy breathing. She opened her eyes to see him looking at her once again, so much love and caring in those onyx eyes that she smiled.

"How was that?" he whispered, wanting to hear her voice, knowing that it would be rough and full of pleasure.

"Amazing,…" she gasped, still trying to catch her breath. "So that… is what the hype… is all about."

"Yes, and that's what awaits you after… well…"

She was a medic-nin, she knew all about the whole pain of first times, but now she at least had something to look forward to after the pain receded.

"Yes, I know, thanks…" she said, smiling up at him.

He pressed his lips against hers again and moved his free hand down to grasp the waistband of his pants. She felt him move and wrapped her fingers around his.

"Here, let me."

She grasped the top of his pants and, as he sat up to sit on his heels, she slowly pulled them downwards, revealing his manhood, standing stiff and long, nestled in a nest of dark curls. He looks at her in awe as she pushes his pants down to his knees and then moves her hands to encircle his member and squeeze lightly. The sensation of having someone touch him there and know that it wasn't his own hands was amazing and he had to close his eyes and moan softly. Hearing this, she grins and slowly starts moving her hands up and down along his length, happy that she can do something that pleasures him like this.

"That feels incredible…" he moans, kicking his pants off of his ankles and then sitting back on his heels as she continues to stoke him in ways that he could never have imagined. Suddenly, he feels like he's coming undone and his eyes snap open and he pushes her hands off of him. She looks at him, disappointment in her eyes.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong, it's just that I don't want this to be over too soon."

She giggles, amazed that she almost brought him to his peak so soon with just her hands. Slowly, she lowers herself back against the pillow, waiting for him. He moves on top of her, his manhood throbbing with the need to be inside her, and places both hands beside her face, holding himself above her. He presses against her, the warm, wet heat of her core enticing him so much that he has to reign himself in, knowing that the next part had to be done slowly and gently, to try and limit the pain he puts her in.

"Are you ready for this?" he says, looking into her eyes.

She nods slowly. "I've been ready forever."

Slowly, he pushes into her, feeling her tight heat clamp down around him, and he has to bite his lip to keep from going too fast. She cries out quietly as he continues pushing into her until he is completely enclosed by her warmth. He stops and looks at her, trying to see if he should stop or keep going.

"I'm sorry…" he mumbles, kissing away the few tears that leak out from her closed eyes.

"Don't be, the first time has to be like this." she whispers, slowly moving her hips to try and get used to the weird intrusion in her core. "If you go slow, I think it'll be ok."

"Alright." he replies, capturing her mouth with his. He kisses her deeply as he slowly begins moving out of her and as he pushes in again, he feels her moan gently into his mouth.

Slowly, he begins to thrust, moving at a constant slow pace, and soon she is moving with him, rocking her hips to meet his with every thrust.

"Faster." she moans, and he complies, increasing his tempo until he feels the coils of his peak start to grow in his gut. He buries his face into the crook of her neck and starts pounding in and out of her with such intensity that he hears her moaning increase in volume with every thrust until she is screaming his name into the night air. Another orgasm races through her system and the sudden increase in pressure on his length is enough to cause his orgasm to explode through him. He groans his pleasure into her shoulder as he reaches his peak as she collapses beneath him gasping for air. He keeps pumping into her until he shudders and his arms give out with exhaustion, and lays on top of her, breathing heavily enough that he sees stars behind his closed eyelids. Moments pass and all the two can do is cling to each other and gasp for air as the effects of their passion slowly dissipate. Soon, he pulls out of her and rolls off to her side, only to pull her up against his chest and hug her tightly to him.

"Sasuke-kun?" she mumbles, the fingers of sleep slowly creeping into her thoughts.

"Hmmm?" he replies, also almost taken over by sleep.

"Love you…."

He opens his eyes and lifts his head to see that his pink haired cherry blossom has fallen asleep in his arms, completely spent. Smiling to himself he lays back down behind her, pulls her close and covers their naked bodies with the blankets. Before he too falls asleep, he breathes out the word's she's been waiting so long to hear.

"Love you too, Sakura."


End file.
